Once you make the decision to sell your home, there are a bevy of issues you need to keep in mind. As with most anything involving money, taxes are one such subject. The real estate market is definitely pulling back. There is no longer any dispute about that. Still, people that have owned their homes for more than three years are sitting pretty because property appreciation was on steroids for so long. If you are one of these people or have owned your home even longer, you are sitting on a big profitable nest egg. So, what happens when you sell it? The sale of a home is viewed as a business transaction for the most part by the IRS. Simply put, is there a profit? If there is, the profit is going to be taxed. Unlike what you would expect with a business, the tax is going be a capital gain version. The tax will be based on the sales price minus the original purchase price plus any improvement costs. Let's look at a simple example. Assume I purchased a home in San Diego in 1995 for $300,000. I spent $50,000 over the years doing improvements. In 2007, I decide to sell and move to a less crowded area of the nation. I sell my home for $600,000. How do I look on taxes? Well, I have a profit of $250,000 [$600,000 - $350,000]. So, do I have to pay capital gains tax on the $250,000? Nope! There is a great exemption built into the tax code. As long as we are talking about my main home and I haven't sold in the previous 2 years, I can claim an exemption. For a single person, the exemption is $250,000. For married couples, it is $500,000. Not bad, eh? This exemption is not a one time affair. It can be used time and again over the years, so you should be planning your home purchase and sales accordingly. Avoiding paying capital gains tax on hundreds of thousands of dollars definitely calls for taking the time and effort to plan out the process. |
