Calculating 2 years for capital gains

[Stefan D.]

The closing date on my house was 3/31/2017.  When can I sell the house and avoid paying capital gains?

[Natalie Kolodij]

So assuming this is your primary home and you're aiming for the section 121 exclusion you need to both: 

Own the home for 2 of 5 years

and 

Occupy the home for 2 of 5 years 

But those actually don't need to be the same 2 years, and they don't need to be continuous, it's aggregate. 

So if you both purchased and moved into your primary on 3/31/17- then you would need to own and occupy it from that point until 3/31/19 at a minimum. But as mentioned above - the timing could be shifted around.