joint home owners sold house, how to split expenses and where to put the $250k exclusion to reduce taxes?

[Anonymous]

Hi,

Jointly owned home with 2 non married people.  

1- how to split expenses?  do we both put the full amount?

2- where to put the $250k exclusion?  subtract from house sale price? add to expenses? or add to cost basis?

[Critter-3]

1) split everything according to your ownership %  ... hopefully you each got a 1099-S for your portion of the sale only.   If you did not get a 1099-S and you both qualify individually for the exclusion you have nothing to report on either return.

2) if you do need to report the sale then each of you will report their portion on their return and follow the program interview screens ... the program will compute and apply the exclusion ... it is not entered by you. 

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

[Anonymous]

When i enter in all the information it says i qualify for the $250k tax exclusion but it should be a $500k excluded since it's joint?

Or does each individual owner have to be taxed on the full amount above the $250k exclusion?

[Anonymous]

i think just figured it out...in the sale of house I was putting the actual amount without splitting it in half.  That was messing up everything.  i thought the 1099S form i got was incorrect because it was half...but now it all makes sense...thanks!