If I sell my home because I got a new job and needed to move closer will I have to pay capital gains? I have lived in my primary address for 18 months

[Hal_Al]

I've edited my original reply. It's not so clear now, with the additional info, that your home was you principal work place.  The facts that you were scheduled for the office once a week and the traveled thorough out the state work against that.

But, "we did not follow that schedule in practice" and "I definitely considered my home my work location", work in your favor.  I would claim the exclusion, but that's an opinion, not a fact. 

[capitalgainshelp]

Thank you for your opinion. I appreciate it. I wish the IRS had a helpline for these scenarios and could just tell me what to do! Thanks again!! 

[Opus 17]

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@capitalgainshelp wrote:

Thank you for your opinion. I appreciate it. I wish the IRS had a helpline for these scenarios and could just tell me what to do! Thanks again!! 

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The regulations are explained here.

https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-publication-523

I wouldn't trust an IRS help line to give an accurate answer, blind testing shows that the rate of accurate answers is less than 75% and that's to a set of simple test questions.  You can pay $10,000 for a Private Letter Ruling if you want.

The key to the partial exclusion rule is that you must have an unforeseen circumstance that changes your ability to stay in your original home.  The IRS has created some safe harbors--if you meet the conditions of the safe harbor, you are presumed to meet the test for unforeseen hardship.  If you don't meet any of the specific safe harbors, you can still meet the hardship test by your own facts and circumstances.  

My concern in your situation is that if you have a job in city A and you buy a home 70 miles away, is it really unforeseeable that you might find commuting difficult?  Where you will need to stake your claim (your defense if audited) is that you expected to commute 1 day a week to city A, and because the job change now requires you to work in city A 5 days a week, that is what makes remaining in your original home an unforeseeable hardship.