This took place in California, a community property state. Taxpayer
and spouse were divorced, and spouse transferred his ownership
interest in the house to Taxpayer.
Taxpayer sold the house in 2018 and made less than $250,000 profit.
My question is whether Taxpayer qualifies for the $250,000 exclusion
of gain from taxes.
Pub 523 says: <https://www.irs.gov/publications/p523#en_US_2018_publink100073087
"Separated or divorced taxpayers.
"If you were separated or divorced prior to the sale of the home, you can treat the home as your residence if: *You are a sole or joint owner, and *Your spouse or former spouse is allowed to live in the home under a divorce or separation agreement and uses the home as his or her main home."
Should that "and" in the first bullet be an "or"? Surely it's highly unusual for a former spouse still to be allowed to live in the house after a divorce.
The following paragraph in the pub is:
"If your home was transferred to you by a spouse or ex-spouse (whether in connection with a divorce or not), you can count any time when your spouse owned the home as time when you owned it. However, you must meet the residence requirement on your own."
That seems to match Taxpayer's situation, since she had lived in the house continuously for 20 years and they, or she, owned it continuously for the same period. But I just wanted to make sure, because those two paragraphs don't seem to agree with each other completely.
Pub 523 says: <https://www.irs.gov/publications/p523#en_US_2018_publink100073087
"Separated or divorced taxpayers.
"If you were separated or divorced prior to the sale of the home, you can treat the home as your residence if: *You are a sole or joint owner, and *Your spouse or former spouse is allowed to live in the home under a divorce or separation agreement and uses the home as his or her main home."
Should that "and" in the first bullet be an "or"? Surely it's highly unusual for a former spouse still to be allowed to live in the house after a divorce.
The following paragraph in the pub is:
"If your home was transferred to you by a spouse or ex-spouse (whether in connection with a divorce or not), you can count any time when your spouse owned the home as time when you owned it. However, you must meet the residence requirement on your own."
That seems to match Taxpayer's situation, since she had lived in the house continuously for 20 years and they, or she, owned it continuously for the same period. But I just wanted to make sure, because those two paragraphs don't seem to agree with each other completely.
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Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://BrownMath.com/
Stan Brown, Oak Road Systems, Tompkins County, New York, USA
http://BrownMath.com/
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