Yet another Capital Gains - personal home turned investment home

[Tom Degroodt]

I discovered a new phrase yesterday (tax years) and I am not sure if I am smarter or more confused.  I know you don’t need to pay capital gains if an asset was your personal home 2 of the last 5 years. My question is does that mean years as in 365 days or in tax years?  If I move out and turn a personal home into a rental starting January 15,2022,  can I rent it until June of 2025 and still fall in the 2 out of the last 5 tax years?

As always - I am looking for an answer so that when I talk to my tax professional this week I can have better questions for him.

A better question, always leads to a more educational answer.

thanks in advance

[Natalie Kolodij]

You need to occupy it/ own it fora  total of 730 days( 365x2) (does not need to be consecutive) within the most recent 1,825 (365x5) days 

It's literally broken down to the day- so if you live in it for 730 days

Then rent it for 2,000 days 

You will no longer qualify for the exclusion. From the point of 2 years you occupy it you can hold it/ rent it for up to 3 years (365x3) and qualify. If you go over that you lose the exclusion fully.