We sold our home for $170,000. Why do we have to report that as income?

[wallace12512]

I thought we only had to report sale of our home if it was over $500,000 for those filing jointly.

[Coleen3 · Accepted solution]

You don't always have to report the sale of a Main Home.

   You need to report the gain if ANY of the following is true.

• You have taxable gain on your home sale (or on the residential portion of your property if you made separate calculations for home and business) and don’t qualify to exclude.
• You received a Form 1099-S. If so, you must report the sale even if you have no taxable gain to report.
• You wish to report your gain as a taxable gain even though some or all of it is eligible for exclusion. You may wish to do this if, for example, you plan to sell another property that qualifies as a home within the next two years, and that property is likely to have a larger gain. If you choose to report, rather than exclude, your taxable gain, you can go back later and undo that choice by filing an amended return, but only within 3 calendar years after the year of sale.

  If NONE of the three bullets above is true, you don’t need to report your home sale on your tax return.