Sold primary house in 2015 for $1.5M, basis: 500K, gains $1M, purchased new primary house, 2015, can I roll the gains into the new house ($1.6M) and pay no capital gains?

[TomD8 · Accepted solution]

It used to be that you could avoid the capital gains tax if you sold your home and rolled over the proceeds into a more expensive home within two years.  That tax break ended with the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997.

Instead, you can take a $250,000 exemption if you're a single owner ($500,000 if married) on the capital gains tax on the sale of your primary residence, assuming you lived in it as your primary residence for at least 2 of the 5 years leading up to the date of sale.

[jjszal]

Can he buy a more expensive home and avoid any capital gains or will this individual always have capital gains ?