Sold marital home after divorce

[Kristen Raymond]

Hello! My ex-husband and I sold our home a year after our divorce in 2025. We each got 1099-s forms from the title company representing our proceeds from the sale. The divorce decree had a specified amount owed to me based on an appraisal my lawyer asked me to have done for the degree.  In the end my portion was not equal to 50%, it was about $10,000 less than my ex-husbands (the home sold more than what it was appraised at). So I do not have a percentage of my proceeds based off the sale in my degree - it’s a “hard” number amount. How do I report the sale for my 2025 taxes if I’m not sure what to split the purchase price, renovations and sale price? Turbotax only walked me through what the home was originally purchased for and the adjusted sale price. I was not asked for the money indicated on my 1099-s (sale proceeds). I feel like I missed something! Thank you! 

[JamesG1 · Accepted solution]

Do you anticipate that any portion of the sale of home will generate a taxable gain?  Hopefully, there is no taxable gain and you just go through the exercise of reporting the information.

You will not pay taxes on the first $250,000 (also known as a gain) you make from the sale of your home (or the first $500,000 if you're Married Filing Jointly).

That income is free and clear as long as:

• You owned the home.
• It was your main home for two years or more within the five years leading up to the sale.
• You waited at least two years between selling your primary home and excluding your first $250,000 or $500,000 from taxes. In other words, you may buy and sell as many primary homes as you'd like, but you'll only get this tax benefit every two years.

If you sold the home for $500,000 with a cost basis of $400,000, you are stating that your gain was $40,000 and your ex-spouse's gain was $60,000?

Generally, we see the following reported:

                                      Sale              Your portion

Selling price              $500,000        $250,000

Adjusted basis          $400,000       $200,000

Non taxable Gain     $100,000       $50,000

[Kristen Raymond]

Thank you! Yes, no capital gains tax, thankfully! My ex-husband and I made well $250,000 each. So just need to report the sale at this point!