Good day!

My wife bought a house in 2009 and lived in it through 2012 as her only and primary residence.

I bought my house in 2012 and two years of ownership will be this July.

We both will individually qualify for the capital gains deduction, but never together. We need to sell both to get a bigger place - can we sell both and each claim the $250k even though we are married filing jointly? We were married in 2012 and together won't meet the requirement on my place until a couple months after July.

Thanks!

To qualify for the $250,000/$500,000 home sale exclusion, you must own and occupy the home as your principal residence for at least two of the five years before the sale. During a two year period ending on the date of sale, neither you or your spouse can have excluded a gain from a sale of a home.If these requirements are all not met, your exclusion is reduced to the total of the exclusions you each would qualify for as single individuals.