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How do I report the sale of my home (principal residence)?

by TurboTax•11• Updated 3 weeks ago

Details about the sale of your principal residence must be reported on your tax return. The sale of your principal residence is generally exempt from capital gains tax. For more info see: What Is the Principal Residence Exemption and How Does It Work? However, if you owned the property for less than one year, you may be subject to the property flipping rules. For more info see: Disposing of your principal residence.

Information about the sale of your home should be entered in the Income section of TurboTax.

  1. From Tax home, under Add to your return, enter principal and select Principal Residence.
  2. At Sale of your Principal Residence, select the Sale of principal residence checkbox, then continue.
  3. Enter info related to the sale in the appropriate fields, then continue.
  4. At Disposition to a spouse or partner, answer the question(s), then continue.
  5. At Designation of a property as a Principal Residence, fill out the fields, then continue.
  6. At Sale of Principal Residence Summary, if applicable, the principal residence exemption will be reflected in the amount for Federal capital gain/loss. If all of your capital gain is sheltered by the principal residence exemption, the capital gain/loss will be zero. 
  1. From Tax home, under Add to your return, enter principal and select Principal Residence.
  2. At the Sale of your Principal Residence step, select the Sale of principal residence checkbox for whoever owned or co-owned the property, then continue.
  3. At Who disposed of the property? select the owner or co-owners as applicable, then continue.
  4. At Sale of your Principal Residence, enter the sales-related info in the appropriate fields, then continue.
  5. If you owned the property for different periods of time, at Designation of a property as Principal Residence, enter the years of ownership details for each spouse.
  6. If only one of you owned the property, at Disposition to a spouse or partner, select the transferee, then continue.
  7. At the Designation of a property as a Principal Residence step, answer the questions, then continue.
  8. At Sale of Principal Residence Summary, make sure the summary info is correct.
  1. Select Find and enter principal.
  2. Select Principal Residence from the search results, then select Go.
  3. At Sale of your Principal Residence, select the Sale of principal residence checkbox, then continue.
  4. Enter info related to the sale in the appropriate fields, then continue.
  5. On the Disposition to a spouse or partner step, answer the question(s), then continue.
  6. On the Designation of a property as a Principal Residence step, fill out the fields, then continue.
  7. On the Sale of Principal Residence Summary step, select Continue.
  1. Select Find and enter principal.
  2. Select Principal Residence (not Principal Residences) from the search results, then select Go.
  3. At Sale of your Principal Residence, select the Sale of principal residence checkbox for each spouse, then continue.
  4. At Who disposed of this property, make a selection based on the ownership and continue.
  5. At Sale of your Principal Residence, enter the info about the sale in the appropriate fields, then continue.
  6. At Disposition to a spouse or partner, select the property transferee and continue.
  7. At Designation of a property as a Principal Residence -Federal, fill out the fields, then continue.
  8. Repeat the last three screens, this time for the other spouse.
  9. At Sale of Principal Residence Summary, you’ll see a summary with the amount of capital gain. If the sale was fully exempted by the principal residence exemption, any capital gain will be zero.
  1. Select Find and enter principal.
  2. Select Principal Residence (not Principal Residences) from the search results, then select Go.
  3. At Sale of your Principal Residence, select the Sale of principal residence checkbox for whoever owned the property, then continue.
  4. At Sale of your Principal Residence, enter info about the sale in the correct fields, then continue.
  5. At Disposition to a spouse or partner, select the transferee, then continue.
  6. At Designation of a property as a Principal Residence - Federal, answer the questions, then continue.
  7. On the Sale of your Principal Residence Summary step, you’ll see a summary with the amount of capital gain. If the principal residence exemption fully exempted the sale, any capital gain will be zero.
  1. From the menu, select View, then Find Form.
  2. In the Keyword to search for field, enter principal residence.
  3. Select PRWS – Principal Residence designation worksheet from the results in the Forms box, then select OK.
  4. At the Principal Residence Designation Worksheet, enter information about the sale in the appropriate fields.