To: Snowshoe who wrote (84710 ) 12/19/2011 6:05:38 PM From: Cogito Ergo Sum Respond to Here if you use part of your home for business, say 25% you can claim and equal 25% of all home expenses... common areas etc.. however.,.. when you sell your home up to 25% of the profit is taxable.. In fairness to you guys... we pay no tax on gains of a primary residence beyond the business use portion but can claim no capital loss either.. Often folks up here that own a cottage.. will upon retirement will sell their home and make the cottage the primary residence .. We are incentivised (is that even a word :O) to pay it off fast.. [5] an individual can exclude up to $250,000 ($500,000 for a married couple filing jointly) of capital gains on the sale of real property if the owner used it as primary residence for two of the five years before the date of sale. The two years of residency do not have to be continuous. An individual may meet the ownership and use tests during different 2-year periods. Both tests must be satisfied during the 5-year period ending on the date of the sale. (my insert: would seem to encourage speculation ??) There are allowances and exceptions for military service, disability, partial residence and other reasons. The $250K ($500K married filing jointly) exemption is not increased for home ownership beyond 5 years. [6] The $250,000 ($500,000 for a married couple filing jointly) is not available to properties bought by 1031 exchange. Capital gains on rental property can be totally avoided by using 1031 exchange . One strategy that is sometimes employed is for a homeowner to move out of the primary residence, rent it out for a period of time, evict the renters, exchange for a new house, rent the new house out, evict the new renters, and then move into the new house, thereby avoiding capital gains tax. [7] 1031 exchange can also be used to avoid capital gains by renting out part of your principal residence. [8] [5] provides no benefit if there is a loss on the sale of the property. One is not able to deduct a loss on the sale of one's home.[9] In an article in the Washington Post, Bruss pointed out that bankruptcy of your present employer would likely permit a homeowner a partial use of the $250K / $500K exemption to allow a homeowner to move to a new job in a different city. [10] According to an article in the Washington Post, a taxpayer can move more often to avoid capital gains tax in expensive areas. [11] en.wikipedia.org
