Capital gains - in going through the sale of house on turbo tax, it asked it a had a previous home sale....i did but it was in 2004 and then IRS did not require a Sched D as long as you met the 2 tests and did not exceed the nontaxable amount ($250k / $5

[Phillip1 · Accepted solution]

In this case, you would answer no to the previous home sale question. The previous home sale question is designed to make sure you did not have a home sale exclusion within the two years prior to this home sale. A sale in 2004 will not effect any of the requirements for the sale of a home in 2016.

Ordinarily, you need to meet the following requirements to exclude the  sale of a home :

• You owned the home and used it as your main home during at least 2 of the last 5 years before the date of sale.
• You didn’t acquire the home through a like-kind exchange (also known as a 1031 exchange), during the past 5 years.
• You didn’t claim any exclusion for the sale of a home that occurred during a 2-year period ending on the date of the sale of the home, the gain from which you now want to exclude.

However, if you don’t qualify for the full exclusion, you may qualify for a reduced exclusion if one from any from a number of listed unforeseen occurred.

The reduced exclusion percentage is calculated by dividing the number of days that you lived in the home divided by the number of days in two years. That percentage is multiplied by the full exclusion amount of 250,000 dollars (or 500,000 dollars for married joint filers).

The listed unforeseen events are as follows:

Work-related move.   You meet the standard requirements if any of the following happened during the time you owned and lived in the home you sold:

• You took or were transferred to a new job in a work location at least 50 miles farther from home than your old work location.
• You had no previous work location and you began a new job at least 50 miles from home.
• Either of the above is true of your spouse, a co-owner of the home, or anyone else for whom the home was his or her residence.

Health-related move.   You meet the standard requirements if any of the following happened during the time you owned and lived in the home you sold.

• You moved to obtain, provide, or facilitate diagnosis, cure, mitigation, or treatment of disease, illness, or injury for yourself or a family member.
• You moved to obtain or provide medical or personal care for a family member suffering from a disease, illness, or injury.
• Family includes:
• Parent, grandparent, stepmother, stepfather;
• Child, grandchild, stepchild, adopted child, eligible foster child;
• Brother, sister, stepbrother, stepsister, half-brother, half-sister;
• Mother-in-law, father-in-law, brother-in-law, sister-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law;
• Uncle, aunt, nephew, niece, or cousin.
• A doctor recommended a change in residence for you because you were experiencing a health problem.
• The above is true of your spouse, a co-owner of the home, or anyone else for whom the home was his or her residence.

Unforeseeable events.   You meet the standard requirements if any of the following happened during the time you owned and lived in the home you sold.

• Your home was destroyed or condemned.
• Your home suffered a casualty loss because of a natural or man-made disaster or an act of terrorism. (It doesn’t matter whether the loss is deductible on your tax return.)
• You, your spouse, a co-owner of the home, or anyone else for whom the home was his or her residence:

1. Died;
2. Became divorced or legally separated;
3. Gave birth to two or more children from the same pregnancy;
4. Became eligible for unemployment compensation;
5. Became unable, because of a change in employment status, to pay basic living expenses for the household (including expenses for food, clothing, housing, medication, transportation, taxes, court-ordered payments, and expenses reasonably necessary for making an income).

An event is determined to be an unforeseeable event in IRS published guidance.

To enter the sale of your primary residence, follow this path in the program:

1. Go to the Federal Taxes category in your TurboTax file.
2. Go to the Wages and Income subcategory.
3. Find the section labeled "Less Common Income" in the "Your Income" list.
4. Click start or update on the item labeled "Sale of Home".
5. Answer yes, you did sell your home in 2016.
6. If you using the Deluxe version of TurboTax, the program will require an upgrade to go through this section at this point.
7. After the upgrade, you will hit a screen labeled Sold a Home. Hit continue.
8. Enter the address of your home.
9. Continue through the sales and purchase data entry screens, and continue.
10. On the screen labeled "Time You Lived In Your Home", click yes or no regarding the period of time that you lived in the home and hit continue.
11. On the screen labeled "Did You Use This Home for Anything Other Than Your Primary Home?" indicate whether there was period where you moved out of the home. If the answer is yes, the program will ask for the period of time in days.
12. On the screen labeled "Another Home Sale", indicate whether there was an excluded home sale within two years from the sale of your home.
13. On the screen labeled "Depreciation After May 6, 1997", indicate whether there was depreciation for business usage. If you answer yes, TurboTax will ask for the total depreciation taken since 5-6-1997.
14. There are further questions that may pop up depending on your situation. Continue through those questions until the program goes back to the main income screen.