Tax Guru-Ker$tetter Letter
Thursday, November 08, 2007
Condo Sale...
Q:
Subject: capital gains dilemma
I'm not sure if you answer questions or not but I'll shoot an quick email to find out.I have a question on capital gains. I bought a condo in Boston in 1998 and lived in my condo until January 2006 in which I started to rent it. Since then I got married and we bought a house in June 2006. Even though we both work our mortgage is high and money is too tight and am considering selling my condo to put towards our mortgage to reduce payments.I am trying to learn about capital gains and have read if you live in your property that you are selling for 2 of the 5 years before the sale you would not have to pay capital gains. Can you tell me if I am eligible to avoid capital gains.Thank you,
A:
You should qualify for up to $250,000 of tax free gain, and possibly a little more for your husband on a joint 1040. A little twist will be the recapture of depreciation claimed on the condo during its use as a rental.
I have a lot of the details explained on my website.
You should go over the specifics of your unique situation with your own personal professional tax advisor.
Good luck. I hope this helps.
Kerry Kerstetter
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