Capital gains due on sale of home

[Teri1950]

I was co-owner of a home in Indiana, but moved out when the relationship ended 20 years ago.  I became sole owner of the home in 2021 and sold the home in March 2022.  I've been told I will need to pay capital gains tax on the sale of the home since I haven't lived in the home recently. How do I figure the amount of taxes due?  Do I owe state and federal taxes? How do I pay the taxes? Can I deduct any of the expenses acrued while preparing the house for sale (travel, hotels, crew to clear out the house)?

[bbaker11]

Hello,

Assuming that the house you sold was used solely as a personal residence and never rented, then in order to exclude up to 250K for a Single filer/ 500k for Joint filers in capital gains you would have to have owned and lived in the home for 2 out the last 5 years before the date of sale.   If you don't meet these requirements then you may be taxed at long term capital gain rates for 2022 based on your filing status. ( https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/investments-and-taxes/guide-to-short-term-vs-long-term-capital-...).  Any capital loss on the sale of a personal residence is not deductible.  Sorry to say you would not be able to deduct any expenses you incurred for preparing the house for sale.  You'll need to know your cost basis in the home (how much you paid for it originally) plus the cost of any improvements you made to the property while you owned it and, of course, your sales proceeds on the home for you to be able to figure your capital gain/loss on the property and ultimately how much tax you may owe for the sale on your Federal and state return.