We bought a home in 2008 for 139,900 & sold it for 197,900 in 2016. When I put the info it lowers the refund. We lived there 8 yrs. I thought you had $500,000 to go up to

[dlhoward601]

Shouldn't I be exempt from paying tax on the sale of this house since it made very little profit after fees, etc. I thought when married filing jointly you had a $500,000 exempt on paying taxes.

[fanfare · Accepted solution]

@dlhoward601    First, since you got $197000 total your sale , your gain, whatever it is , must be totally ineligible.

If all your gain is ineligible and you did not get 1099-S, you don't have to report this sale at all. 

So just skip all of that section.

Delete anything you entered already.

[NicoleU]

If this was your primary residence or main home, you will need to do the following in TurboTax:

• Federal Taxes
• Wages & Income
• Less Common Income
• Sale of Home (gain or loss)
• Sold A Home, click Continue
• Address of the Home You Sold, click Continue
• Sales Information, click Continue
• Tell Us About the Purchase of Your Home
• Time You Lived In Your Home
• Did You Use This Home for Anything Other Than Your Primary Home?
• Another Home Sale
• Depreciation After May 6, 1997
• Exclusion of Gain (if you meet the requirements)
• Include Sale of Home in Return, please check the box, Include my sale on my return, if you received a Form 1099-S.
  

[dlhoward601]

I was wondering if I even need to put it on turbotax if I made under $500,000 gains under married filing jointly. I read where I don't even have to bother with it. Only made about $30k profit on the property. When I put it in turbotax it is coming up not exempt and charging me tax so I must be doing something wrong. But from looking online I don't even need to put it in because it made so little profit.

[NicoleU]

Per the IRS, How your sale qualifies.  Your sale qualifies for exclusion of $250,000 gain ($500,000 if married filing jointly) if all of the following requirements are met.
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.

The IRS suggests you not report the sale of your main home (IRS Publication 523, Selling Your Home) on your tax return unless:

 - You received a form 1099-S for the sale or exchange, or
 - You have a gain and you do not qualify to exclude all of it, or
 - You have a gain and choose not to exclude it.

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