If you sold your house half Million, How much Capital gain?How much % you pay for tax?

Question

No Mortgage

Answer 1

Too many unknowns to give you an answer. What did you buy it for? Did you put in any improvements? If so they become part of your cost basis. Your gain would be the difference between what you sold it for, $500,000, and your cost basis. Have you lived in it for at least 2 out of the last 5 years? If so, you can exempt gains up to $250,000 if single, and $500,000 if married. If not, did you have to sell it for a job change? If so you can prorate some of your gain. If not, did you own the house at least 1 year? If so, you would have long-term capital gain, which is taxed at a maximum of 15%. If not, then you have short-term capital gain, which is taxed at your regular tax bracket. Does you state have a state income tax? If so, you would have state capital gains if you also have federal capital gains. Like I said at the start, too many unknowns to give you an answer.

Answer 2

As PepsiLime said, there is not enough information in your question in order to give you an accurate answer. However, I'll give you some common scenarios that may reflect your situation.

The first step is to determine your gain...
If you bought this house (or you and your spouse bought this house), then your gain on the house will be the difference between what you paid for it and what you sold it for with some exceptions. As an example, if you bought the house for $250,000 and then sold it recently for $500,000 then your gain is $250,000. Another example, if you bought the house for $200,000 and then added a room onto the house later for $25,000, your basis in the house is $225,000. If you sell the house for $500,000, your gain is $275,000.

If you and your spouse bought the house some time ago and your spouse recently passed away, your basis in the house depends upon which state you are in. Some states, both your half and the half belonging to the spouse would be stepped up to the current market value at the day of the death. Other states, only the decedent's half is stepped up in value.

If you did not buy this house, but inherited it, then your basis in the house is the fair market value on the day of the owner's death. For example, assuming a close relative bought the house 40 years ago for $50,000 and then recently passed away, and the house was worth $490,000 on the day of their death, then your basis in the house is $490,000.

Now that you know your basis in the house, you can figure out some possible tax consequences. If you and your spouse are the owner's of this house and you have lived in the house as your primary residence for at least two of the last five years, then you are probably eligible for a Section 121 exclusion. The exclusion allows $250,000 of a gain on a principle residence to be excluded from your taxable income. ($500,000 if you are married filing jointly). So if you bought the house for $250,000 and sell it for $500,000 and you meet the above mentioned criteria, then your tax consequences will be $0 because the $250,000 gain is excluded under section 121.

If you inherited the house recently, then your gain is much smaller, as I mentioned previously. You will be taxed on any gain as long-term capital gains. Normally, this will be 15%. Taking my previous example where you inherited a house that was worth $490,000 on the day of the decedent's death, then your tax consequences will be 15% of $10,000 or $1,500.

There are other situations that I have not discussed that may affect your basis in the house. For instance, if you or your spouse had a home office and depreciated a portion of your home as an expense of this home business, then your basis in the house may be smaller than the amount you paid for it.

While Pepsi and I have probably given you some good answers, you really should consult with a CPA about your situation. Trust me, the CPA will save you some headaches and possibly some money compared to if you do your taxes yourself and end up handling this situation the wrong way.

Good luck,

Answer 3

If you owned it for at least two full years of the previous five years to the sale, and lived in it as your main home for at least two of those same five years, then if you file a joint return you can usually exclude up to $500,000 of gain so wouldn't owe anything. If you are not filling a joint return, you can exclude up to $250,000 of gain, so then it would depend on what you paid for the house initially, plus any improvements, and any realtor commissions or other deductible expenses. But with any luck, you wouldn't owe any tax.

If it was not your main home for at least two years or you didn't own it for two years, you'd very likely owe capital gains tax on the gain, but don't give enough info for anyone to calculate that - would need to know how long you owned it and lived in it, why you moved, how much you paid for it initially, and the cost of any improvements you made to it.

Answer 4

Paid $38,000 for it. And a pool was added in 1978

Answer 5

in Florida it is 15% of the profit,,,,or you have the option to re-invest (all) into another property ov greater value with out penolity