My father is 88 years old. His income is $26,000.00 per year. He sold his home in California for 370,000.00. He is single. He Does he have to pay capital gains tax?

[kdeleon_2000]

original purchase price was $60,000.00 He lived in home for 2  years. He just moved to Georgia.

[xmasbaby0]

You left out how much he gained on the home.

SALE OF HOUSE

If your gain was more than  $250,000 filing Single, or more than $500,000 filing Married Filing Jointly the sale must be reported on your tax return.  Whether you re-invested the gain in to another house is irrelevant.  If you  have a Form 1099-S go to Federal>Wages and Income>Less Common Income>Sale of Home (gain or loss)

If you owned and lived in the home as your primary residence for at least 2 of the last 5 years on the date of the sale, you do not have to report the home sale if the gain is less than $250K filing Single, or less than $500K filing Married Filing Jointly (and you both owned and lived in the home for at least 2 years).

• If you are using online TT, you need Premier or Self-Employed software to report the 1099-S

[Heisendude]

Nope.  You get a lifetime exemption up to 7500000.  TELL IRS to GFT.  He is good for eevery penny.  But what do I know

[xmasbaby0]

@Heisendude You are providing information that is incorrect.   Please do not mislead people in the user forum.  The information provided above was for the user's federal return.  Information then flows from the federal return to the state return.

[xmasbaby0]

@Heisendude @kdeleon_2000 

https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/home-ownership/help/is-the-money-i-made-from-a-home-sale-taxable/0...

[DoninGA]

---

@Heisendude wrote:

Nope.  You get a lifetime exemption up to 7500000.  TELL IRS to GFT.  He is good for eevery penny.  But what do I know

---

Please provide an IRS link describing this lifetime exemption for the sale of a home.  Unable to locate!

If you sold your primary personal residence and you lived in and owned the home for at least two years in the five year period on the date of sale, you do not have to report the sale if your gains are less then the exclusion amounts of $250,000 if filing Single or $500,000 if filing Married Filing Jointly (and both lived in the home for two years).

If you had a gain greater then the exclusion amounts then you would have to report the sale. Also, if you received a Form 1099-S for the sale either with a gain or a loss, the sale has to be reported.

IRS website for sale of home - https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc701

[xmasbaby0]

@kdeleon_2000   @Heisendude 

And from the IRS:

https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc701

[Opus 17]

Can you clarify, he purchased the home for $60,000 just two years ago and sold it for $370,000?  Or he purchased the home some time ago and used it for other purposes?  If the home was used as a rental or for other purposes that were not as his main home, then the question of taxable gains becomes much more complicated, and he may not qualify to use his personal gains exclusion even though he lived there for 2 years.

[Opus 17]

@DoninGA @xmasbaby0 beware the unspoken details.  His father "lived" there 2 years, but has a 400% gain?  If he owned the home longer than 2 years but did not live there until the last 2 years, this becomes much more complicated. 

[xmasbaby0]

@Opus 17 Thanks---you make a point---  the user did comment that the dad "just" moved to GA---so it sounds like he lived in the CA house---but we could use clarification,

[Critter-3]

@Heisendude 

The lifetime credit for gifts/estate  is not the same thing as the  personal residence exemption ... please do not mix them up.

For the personal residence :   

Purchase price + cost to buy + improvements along the way + cost to sell  =  basis

Sale price - basis = profit  

If the profit is greater than 250K (500K married)  then the excess over the exemption amount is taxable as long term cap gain.  

If you sold your primary personal residence and you lived in and owned the home for at least two years in the five year period on the date of sale, you do not have to report the sale if your gains are less then the exclusion amounts of $250,000 if filing Single or $500,000 if filing Married Filing Jointly (and both lived in the home for two years).  

If you had a gain greater then the exclusion amounts then you would have to report the sale.  Also, if you received a Form 1099-S for the sale either with a gain or a loss, the sale has to be reported.  You will need the online TurboTax Premier or Self-Employed edition to report the sale if you are using the online editions.   Make sure that you indicate that you want the sale of the home reported on your tax return.  (See Screenshot)***

• Click on Federal Taxes (Personal using Home and Business)
• Click on Wages and Income (Personal Income using Home and Business)
• Click on I'll choose what I work on (if shown)
• Scroll down to Less Common Income
• On Sale of Home (gain or loss), click the start or update button

Or enter sale of home in the Search box located in the upper right of the program screen.  Click on Jump to sale of home