Sale of home capital gains tax

[cmarymcd]

We are selling our home in 2022 but will not have lived there 1 full year since the sale of our previous residence in 2021.  We used the capital gains exemption on the sale of the home in 2021.  Want to know what can I add to the cost basis of the home we will be selling this year to lower our cap gains tax.  Purchase price was 583,100 with closing costs bringing total purchase to 601,000.  We are selling home for $625,000 and will incur commission fees, transfer taxes and other county fees.  We have put in about 5,000 in improvements since we bought the house.  Can you estimate approx cap tax profit and tax amount?  Combined we make approx $135,000 and have both 401K and pre-tax medical deductions from our paychecks with no other tax credits or deductions available to us.

Carolyn McDevitt

[mfields2]

It doesn't appear that you will have any capital gain.  Here's why:  broker fees and closing costs generally add up to 8-10% of the sale price of the home.  But let's assume that you only pay 5% - that would be $31,250.  So your sales price - closing cost would be $625,000 - $31,250 = $593,750.  Your basis is $601k +$5k of improvements = $606k.  So you have a loss, which is not deductible (unfortunately).  But no capital gains.