My brother and I are selling property that we inherited in 1995 when my father died. My husband and I have an income of app. $62,000. Will I owe capital gains tax?

[homesteader]

My husband and I are in the 15% tax bracket with an income of $62,000.  Do I still owe capital gains tax?

[Critter]

What have you been doing with the property for the last 22 years ?  Was it a rental?

[homesteader]

No, and I stand to make app. $75,000 profit so I guess I will owe a lot.

[homesteader]

One of my sisters lived in it and paid no rent, etc.

[Howard1948 · Accepted solution]

I believe you are trying to understand whether you will be taxed at the 0%, 15% or 20% rate on any capital gain you may have from the sale of this property.  Even though your other income puts you in the 15% bracket, for purposes of determing the capital gain rate you must add the capital gain itself to your income.  Since the next tax bracket for MFJ begins at $75,900 of taxable income, if your gain pushes you there then you are in the 25% tax bracket and thus the 15% capital gain bracket.

The above only relates to the capital gain portion.  If, as Critter#2 suggests above, you have been renting out this property and thus have depreciation recapture to deal with, that recapture portion will be taxed at ordinary rates.  This recapture provision applies even if you did not claim or get any benefit from the depreciation in prior years.

[homesteader]

If I make a profit of app. $75,000, do I add it to my  income or do I figure the 15% of $75,000 and add it to my total income?  Would I have a gross income of $137,000 ?

[Critter]

The sale is reported in it's entirety  on the tax return as income and the program will compute the tax ... do not do it yourself.