Capital gains selling a property I hae owned for 1 year

[Andrew B.]

I am selling a property I have owned for one year. The problem is the date the deed was recorded is not the date we closed. When does the iRs see that one year starting from- date of closing or the date someone actually recorded it 30 days later. It's a second property and would hate to pay full tax for owing it for under one year making it a short term investment. Also, my wife originally purchased it in her name and then we did a quite claim 4 months later to both our names. Who's tax do we file this under and once again do the IRS work off the original date or the undated quit claim date?
Ps: we are in Florida. Thanks

[J Scott]

The IRS cares about ownership, not filing dates. So, as long as it's more than one year from the date you purchased, you are okay in terms of time limit.

That said, there are other variables that contribute to what type of taxable event this will be -- the IRS cares as much about intent as they do about time limit. If you purchased this property with the intent to resell for a profit, they may very well determine that the property was just business inventory, in which you'll be taxed at ordinary income rates.

What was your intent when you purchased the property? Did you ever live in it? Did you ever rent it out? Do you intend for it to be a flip?

Btw, I'm not a CPA or accountant, so take everything above as a non-expert opinion...