Lived home for 1.5/5 years... Will Capital Gains Tax be Excluded?

[Trevor J.]

Hey All,

Has anyone had any success with having their capital gains tax excluded upon sale of your property after living there for only 1.5 out of the last 5 years?

In Garrett Sutton's book, "Loopholes of Real Estate", Chapter 11, he writes that a "year" is justified if you lived there for the majority of that calendar year... therefore living in your primary residence for 1yr and 7months consecutively should grant you the Primary Residence Exception, right? He also mentions that under special circumstances you can get a pro-rated exclusion, but first want to see about the whole exclusion.

Any accountants have a take on this?

Thanks!

-Trevor