do you still get a one time deduction on selling a home like on capital gains?

Answer 1

When you sell a home, and you have a gain, you can offset up to 250K (500K married) of that gain as non taxable if that was your primary residence. You cannot offset any other income with the 250K limit, not can you offset any other income if you sell the home at a loss.

Answer 2

This sounds like a US question.

In the old days (quite some time ago) you could sell your primary residence and not be taxed on the gain (up to a limit) if you were over a specific age and you elected to take the profit.

That law changed and the new law is more or less as follows. The fine details can be found on the IRS.gov site.

You can sell your primary residence after living in it for 2 out of 5 years and not pay tax on profits up to $250K. If you are married and both lived there for 2 out of 5 then the limit is $500K. Note the time requirement means you can do this every 5 years if you like.

If you purchased the property as part of a 1031 exchange then you need to live in the property 5 out of 5 years.

If you live there less than 2 out of 5 years there are still some benefits but you need to fit other criteria. Check the IRS site for details.

The above does mean that you can rent the place for up to 3 out of the 5 years without a real conflict. It also means that you need to be able to defined that this was your primary residence and not a second home.

Answer 3

You can offset up to 250K (500K married) of your gain as non taxable if that was your primary residence 2 out of the last 5 years.