I am turning 66 this year. We sold our house in April of 2024 but do not plan to buy our next home until 2025. Can I avoid capital gains tax?

[xmasbaby0]

Buying your next home has been irrelevant since 1997.

SALE OF HOUSE

If your gain was more than  $250,000 filing Single, or more than $500,000 filing Married Filing Jointly the sale must be reported on your tax return.  Whether you re-invested the gain in to another house is irrelevant.  If you  have a Form 1099-S go to Federal>Wages and Income>Less Common Income>Sale of Home (gain or loss)

If you owned and lived in the home as your primary residence for at least 2 of the last 5 years on the date of the sale, you do not have to report the home sale if the gain is less than $250K filing Single, or less than $500K filing Married Filing Jointly (and you both owned and lived in the home for at least 2 years).

• If you are using online TT, you need Premium software to report the 1099-S

NOTE:   If you have ever used the home as rental property or claimed a home office, you have more information to enter

[stevensmith173]

How do I obtain a form 1099-S? 

[Opus 17]

You may receive a 1099-S at the closing from the closing agent.  The form is not always issued for the sale of a personal home, it depends on the circumstances and the tax laws in your state.  You are required to report the sale, claim your personal exclusion, and pay tax on any remaining gain, even if you don't get a 1099-S. 

[tagteam]

---

@stevensmith173 wrote:

How do I obtain a form 1099-S? 

---

Ask your settlement agent.

[fanfare]

You don't need a 1099-S.

With a 1099-S , report the sale  exactly as you would have without 1099-S.

The only difference is you must report the sale on Form 8949 when a 1099-S is issued. IRS will be looking for it.

@stevensmith173 

[Bsch4477]

Note that if taking the capital gain exclusion and adding capital improvements to your cost basis results in no gain and you don’t get form 1099-S, you don’t have to report the home sale at all.