Selling Home from Prior Duty Station after Retirement from Military

[SBH]

I'm trying to figure out if selling a home from a prior duty station that has been rented out is considered a sale of a "rental" or "main home" and how to get TT to get me to the capital gains exemption.

I am trying to apply my "look back" of when the 2-of-5-year clock starts ticking and I keep bouncing between main home and rental.

Timeline to help explain:

8/2009 - Bought property

2/2012 - Moved (and started rental)

8/2015 - Retired from military

2/2020 - Sold property

My understanding is that I can delay the start my 2-of-5 clock by the time I was in the military from the sold date (placing the start of the look-back date at 8/23/2016).  Looking back from that adjusted sold date, I come up with 5 out of 24 months of shelter for the gains.

Which really boils down to: How do I account for and take advantage of the capital gains exemption?

Thanks,
Scott

[GloriaL]

Yes, you are correct that you can delay the start of your "2 out of 5 time". The military extension of the capital gains exclusion allows active-duty military members who are away from their property due to permanent change of station orders to extend the 60-month period up to an additional 10 years. This means that eligible military members may exclude their capital gains as long as they occupied the primary residence for two of the previous 15 years.military extension of the capital gains exclusion. This allows active-duty military members who are away from their property due to permanent change of station orders to extend the 60-month period up to an additional 10 years. This means that eligible military members may exclude their capital gains as long as they occupied the primary residence for two of the previous 15 years.

For additional Information please refer to: TurboTax: Tax Aspects of Selling a Home - Members of Uniformed Services

To enter the sale of your property please refer to: TurboTax: How to Report Sale Of Rental