If I sell my house and buy another home at an equal or greater value, do I still have to pay a capital gains tax?

[MTV]

If I sell my house and buy another home at an equal or greater value, do I still have to pay a capital gains tax?

[Bsch4477]

The transactions are independent of each other. You might qualify for the capital gain home owners exclusion when you sell your home. 

[xmasbaby0]

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 Premier or Self-Employed software to report the 1099-S

[Opus 17]

The rule that you could postpone your gain by buying a more expensive home was phased out in 1997.  Now, each transaction stands alone.  If you lived in the home at least two years of the past 5 years and owned it at least 2 years, you qualify to exclude the first $250,000 of gain (or $500,000 if married filing jointly).  Any gain over that is a taxable capital gain.  If you owned and lived in the home less than 2 years, you might qualify for a partial gain depending on the circumstances of why you decided to sell.