$40k capital gains?! Oof

[Leslie Daffer]

About to sell primary for another primary for no other reason than to move up. Bought 1/30/21 for $422k. Projected sale price of $600k. After $24k commission & $12k in improvement expenses, we're looking at $142k in profit. Married filing jointly, W-2 job that'd put us into the 15% federal capital gains territory. Located in AZ. Looking at approx $40k in capital gains between federal & state. OUCH.

Here's where I'm curious - I've seen the tax requirements say that the $500k exemption is "only allowable once every 2 years." Our previous home sale was 6/25/20. If we were to sell our current primary after 6/25/22, would this fall under the look-back exemption?