Married filing separately with a home sale

[mjdjunk]

My wife and I are married but separated, living in two different places in Massachusetts.  We sold our home and agreed to split the proceeds of the sale equally.  The proceeds were large.  I am thinking we  need to file using status Married Filing Separately but I don't know if we need to report the proceeds of the sale and if so, will it result in a tax on the sale for either one of us?  Or is there an advantage to filing Jointly?

[AmyC]

 If it was your main home that you lived in 2 out of 5 years, you may not need to report the house sale at all. If the gains were that large, you will need to report the sale.

 See Topic No. 701 Sale of Your Home, for complete details.

The exclusion is per person so filing joint or separate will not matter.