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Updated 4 months ago on . Most recent reply

How Would You Structure A 1031 on a Primary?
If my wife and I own our own house which have appreciated well over 1 million, and I would like to use a 1031 exchange in order to defer taxes -
I have these questions, let's assume we purchased it for $1 million, and it's now worth 2 million dollars and I lived in it for the past 3 years as my primary residence.
1. Will I still be able to use the $250,000 per spouse exemption on the appreciation, and how will this impact my 1031 exchange?
2. In order to benefit from a 1031 exchange to defer my taxes will I need to convert my primary residence into a rental property and if I do, what's the minimum amount of time that I need in order to hold it as a rental to make sure it qualifies for a 1031 exchange?
3. Say we rent it out for 1 years after we move out - will the defer amount in the exchange be our entire appreciation? only the appreciation gained during the leasing period? and how will the $500k exemption play into it?
Most Popular Reply

- Qualified Intermediary for 1031 Exchanges
- St. Petersburg, FL
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@Dani Beit-Or. There's a way to make this work. But it will take a little runway. In order to qualify for the primary residence exemption you must have lived in the property for at least 2 out of the 5 years immediately prior to selling it. You will get the $500K tax free.
To do a 1031 exchange you must be selling an investment property. And then you will purchase a new investment property and all of the gain is tax deferred indefinitely as @Jaron Walling said.
The way to combine and get both advantages would be to move out and turn that property into an investment property for a year. Then sell it. You're now selling an investment property. So you can do a 1031 exchange. You will take $500K in boot from the 1031 exchange. Normally this would be taxable. But since you have lived in it for 2 out of the last 5 you would get that $500K tax free.
You set up a situation where you qualify for both. Pretty awesome stuff!!
- Dave Foster
