How To Report the Sale of Your Main Home

If you have to report the sale or exchange, report it on Form 8949. If the gain or loss is short term, report it in Part I of Form 8949 with box C or box I checked. If the gain or loss is long term, report it in Part II of Form 8949 with box F or box L checked.

If you had a gain and can exclude part or all of it, enter “H” in column (f) of Form 8949. Enter the exclusion as a negative number (in parentheses) in column (g) of Form 8949. See the Instructions for Form 8949, columns (f), (g), and (h). Complete all columns.

If you had a loss but have to report the sale or exchange because you got a Form 1099-S, see Certain Nondeductible Losses , later, for instructions about how to report it.

More information.

See Pub. 523 for additional details, including how to figure and report any taxable gain if:

You (or your spouse if married) used any part of the home for business or rental purposes after May 6, 1997; or

There was a period of time after 2008 when the home wasn’t your main home.