Capital Gains on Real Estate

the law changed a number of years ago. you get to take a deduction of $250 K as a single person on personal real estate cap gain for the year in which you rec'd the gain. no re-purchase necessary. be sure to check with an accountant to capture all other legal deductions available to you to offset the balance of the gain in excess of the $250K.

In order to get the $250K deduction on cap gains from RE, you also have to have lived in the RE for the two years prior to sale I believe.

There is no "roll over" provision for non-investment RE any longer.

yes...i think the actual requirement is primary residence for two or more years.

req't of primary residency is for two of the past 5 years actually.

I lived there as a primary for more than 5 years...but if I buy again (and spend more money to offset the gains)how long do I have to do this?

there no longer is a rollover req't. You can upsize or downsize freely at any time and shelter your CGs per above. If you have CGs in excess of $250/500K, make sure any improvements you've made to the property are added to your orig cost basis, as that will be a dollar for dollar offset to the excess CGs.

Thank you everyone! I think this is a good start...

If you make alot of money, the taxes will kill you. But if you are a good liberal everyone gives you the evil eye if you bitch about paying taxes when they know you made $$$. (Not that really rich people don't do it all the time--or not since they have such wonderful tax avoidance strategies). And its not just the Feds--New York State takes a nice chunk as well.

right now the cg taxes are at or near record lows. i wouldn't complain. if you are paying them as a result of RE profits, you have nothing to complain about. To walk away with 250/500 tax free is pretty generous and this benefit will go away very soon. enjoy it while you got it.