Let’s say that you owned a property for 6 years. For the first 4 years you rented the property out. You then lived in the home as your primary residence for the next 2 years. You had a total of $150,000 of capital gains over the 6 year period.
How many years do you have to live in your home to be considered primary residence?
You then lived in the home as your primary residence for the next 2 years. You had a total of $150,000 of capital gains over the 6 year period. However, you lived in the home for 2 out of 6 years since 2009, so only 1/3 (2 divided by 6) of the capital gains will be considered qualifying use.
Can you rent out your home as a primary residence?
Because of these mortgage benefits, you cannot declare a home as your primary residence if you plan to rent it out.
When do you qualify for the primary residence exclusion?
You’re eligible for the exclusion if you have owned and used your home as your main home for at least two consecutive years out of the five years prior to its date of sale. How does my primary residence affect my mortgage?
Do you have to have primary residency to sell your house?
In order for the sale to be exempt, the home must be considered a primary residency based on Internal Revenue Service (IRS) rules. These rules state that you must have occupied the residence for at least two of the last five years.
What is the 2 out of 5 primary residence rule?
However, you lived in the home for 2 out of 6 years since 2009, so only 1/3 (2 divided by 6) of the capital gains will be considered qualifying use. That means you have a capital gains exclusion of $50,000 (1/3 of $150,000). Of course, there is depreciation which also must be recaptured.
Can you convert a rental property into a primary residence?
If you buy a home and a dramatic rise in value causes you to sell it a year later, you would be required to pay capital gains tax on the gain. This rule does, however, allow you to convert a rental property into a primary residence because the two-year residency requirement does not need to be fulfilled in consecutive years.
