Ask Liz Weston

Get smart with your money

capital gains

Q&A: Was it a mistake to incur a large tax bill?

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Dear Liz: We are a retired couple in our late 70s. I worked as a carpenter and my wife worked as a nurse. We saved and invested for the long haul with a well-known discount brokerage. Last summer, we were wooed by another financial services firm with a “much better idea.” Our combined portfolio at the time was $1,985,000. We transferred our holdings, including $340,000 in a taxable account.

The transfer triggered a capital gain of $184,000 as the new company sold the old funds and reinvested the money according to their plan. This caused us to owe about $50,000 in income tax this year rather than breaking even or receiving a refund. Our holdings have grown to $2,013,119 after our 2026 required minimum distributions have been taken. Was this a good move given the large tax bill? Our tax accountant is very critical of the sale of these funds.

Answer: Your accountant may not be in the best position to evaluate whether this was the right move for you.

Tax pros are typically focused on saving their clients money. That often means delaying or avoiding moves that could trigger capital gains taxes. Sometimes, though, such moves are necessary to avoid even bigger financial costs down the road.

The stock market gains of recent years mean that many people have portfolios that are now too heavily invested in stocks, particularly if they haven’t been regularly rebalancing their investment mix. These stock-heavy portfolios can leave people painfully exposed to downturns.

I redacted the names of the firms, but both companies you mentioned in your letter have good reputations. Your previous brokerage caters to do-it-yourself investors who want to minimize fees, while your new one provides fiduciary advice, meaning that they’re required to put their clients’ best interests first. It’s easy to imagine you investing for decades on your own without an advisor’s help or appropriate rebalancing; the new firm sees how risky your portfolio has become and diversifies it after careful discussions with you about your age, situation and goals.

Imagination is not reality, though, and the most concerning part of your letter is your vagueness about why you moved your money. You should be able to articulate in basic terms why this transfer made sense. “Our portfolio was too risky” or “I had too many of the same type of stocks” or “I realized I needed help” are all appropriate reasons. “A much better idea” is not.

The right move now might be to get a second opinion from a fee-only financial planner. Someone who charges by the hour could review your portfolio and let you know if you’re now on the right track. You can get referrals from the Garrett Planning Network at https://garrettplanningnetwork.com/.

Q&A: Home sale tax rules confuse many

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Dear Liz: I thought I understood about taxes and house sales, but I am now confused. It seems like the previous rules were that home sale profits could be rolled from one house to the next and one would take a one-time exemption for up to $500,000 or so, with capital gains only due on the amount above that amount. Now the latest rule is that house sales are calculated on each sale, but still based on purchase price plus improvements as the basis. Or is it?

Answer: You are confused, but you’re not alone. Many people remember the old rules, and some think they’re still in effect.

The basic way that capital gains are calculated hasn’t changed. The homeowner’s tax basis — which is the amount they paid for the home, plus qualifying improvements — is subtracted from the net sale price to determine potentially taxable capital gains.

Before the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, homeowners could defer capital gains on home sales if they bought a replacement house of equal or greater value. At age 55, they could take a one-time exemption that protected $125,000 of home sale gains from taxation. This allowed many if not most people to downsize without owing big tax bills (the median home price in 1997 was less than $150,000).

The rules today are quite a bit different. Home sellers can exclude up to $250,000 of capital gains, or $500,000 for a married couple, as long as they owned and lived in the home at least two of the five years prior to the sale.

Note, however, that the exclusion amount hasn’t changed since 1997. The median home price in the U.S. is over $400,000, and “starter” or entry-level homes top $1 million in over 200 cities, according to real estate site Zillow. That means many more longtime homeowners face capital gains taxes when they sell their homes.

Q&A: How to finance a remodeling project

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Dear Liz: I am doing a small remodeling job to my home that will cost $80,000. I have enough in my investments to withdraw the $80,000. Is it better, tax wise, to get a home equity loan to pay for it?

Answer: Like so many tax questions, the answer depends on your circumstances. How your investments would be taxed depends in part on what account they’re in. Withdrawals from most retirement accounts are taxed as income, and can incur penalties if you take the money out too early.

Withdrawals from regular brokerage accounts also can be taxed as income if you’ve held the investments less than one year. If the investments have been held for more than one year, you can qualify for more beneficial capital gains tax rates. The amount of tax you would pay depends on how much the investments appreciated in value since you bought them as well as your income tax bracket. Most people pay a federal capital gains rate of 15%, although lower income taxpayers can qualify for a 0% rate while higher earners pay 20%.

You may have the opportunity to engage in what’s known as “tax loss harvesting.” That means selling investments that have lost value since you bought them, and using that loss to offset the gains on other investments you’ve sold.

Interest on home equity borrowing, meanwhile, may be deductible if the proceeds are used to improve your home and the combined total of your mortgage debt doesn’t exceed $750,000 for a married couple filing jointly or $375,000 for singles.

To deduct the interest, though, you must itemize your deductions. The vast majority of taxpayers now take the standard deduction of $31,500 for married couples or $15,750 for singles. People 65 and older can take an additional $1,600 per qualifying spouse or $2,000 if single. In addition, people 65 and over can take an additional $6,000 bonus deduction if their income is under certain limits. The bonus begins to phase out for single filers with modified adjusted gross income over $75,000, and for joint filers over $150,000.

That’s the long answer. The shorter answer is that the taxes you’ll pay cashing in your investments are likely to be less, and perhaps significantly less, than the interest you’d pay on the loan. But you’ll need to do your own math, or ask a tax pro for help.

Q&A: Time to move, but what about the capital gains?

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Dear Liz: My husband and I built a home on a hillside over 30 years ago in a desirable neighborhood with a beautiful view. We thought it would be our retirement home, but life had different plans. Now seniors, dealing with age, stairs and progressive health issues, we have been advised that selling and moving to a senior assisted living facility is the best option for us before we are forced by circumstances to move. And, we were told, it would be less expensive than having full-time, in-home care.

We are concerned that capital gains would take a big chunk out of the sales proceeds from our home, and that’s money we need to pay for assisted living. Can we use the purchase price of the vacant lot against the capital gains? Can we use the bank loan for building the house against the capital gains? Can we use the cost of an apartment or condo in an assisted living residence against the capital gains? What other things can be used against capital gains other than general home improvements?

Answer: A large gain wouldn’t just reduce the amount of money you have for the next phase of your life. It also could increase your Medicare premiums for a year, thanks to the income-related adjustment amount or IRMAA.

You’ll determine your potentially taxable capital gains by deducting your tax basis from your home sales proceeds. Your basis includes the purchase price of the lot and the cost of construction, plus any qualifying home improvements you’ve made over the years.

The two of you can shelter up to $500,000 of home sales profits from capital gains taxes. Capital gains also can be reduced if you have capital losses — in other words, if you’ve sold stocks or other assets for a loss.

What you do with money doesn’t affect the capital gains taxes you pay. Decades ago, you could defer capital gains by buying another home of equal or greater value, but that’s no longer the case.

You may have some alternatives to lessen the impact of the gains, such as an installment sale where the buyer pays over time. Another option would be renting out rather than selling your home.

A tax pro can provide guidance.

Q&A: Counting freeloading relatives as a hardship? Not so fast, the IRS says

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Dear Liz: I lived in a house for 45 years. During that time, my daughter and her family moved in due to the 2008 financial crisis. I have not charged her rent. However, I moved out five years ago, and her family is still there rent-free. I understand that when I sell, I will owe capital gains tax because it is no longer my primary residence. Are there any hardship rules that may help me?

Answer: Unfortunately, the IRS doesn’t consider freeloading relatives as one of the hardships that can modify the home sales exclusion rules.

Your capital gain will be calculated by subtracting your tax basis in the home from the sales proceeds, minus selling costs. Your tax basis is generally what you paid for the house, plus the cost of qualifying upgrades.

You can exclude up to $250,000 of home sale capital gains (or $500,000 if married filing jointly), but only if you’ve owned and lived in the property as your primary residence for at least two of the past five years. There is a partial exclusion for people who fall short of the two-year mark because of certain reasons, such as a work- or health-related move.

Q&A: Losing a home in a fire, then being hit with a ‘casualty gain’

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Dear Liz: My house was burned down in the Palisades fire. I lived in the house for 25 years and lost everything. I thought there may be a silver lining with tax deductions. Much to my surprise, I am supposed to use the purchase price from 25 years ago as my adjusted cost basis. The insurance settlement is not going to be enough to rebuild but is more than my cost basis. I will end up with “casualty gain” instead. Is this possible?

Answer: After losing your home and finding out you were underinsured, the news that you might have a taxable gain must have been a gut punch.

The IRS calls it an “involuntary conversion” when your property is destroyed and you receive insurance proceeds. If the insurance payment exceeds your tax basis in the property, that’s known as a casualty gain.

You can defer tax on this gain if you use the insurance payout to rebuild or buy a replacement property, says Mark Luscombe, a principal analyst with Wolters Kluwer Tax & Accounting. Normally you’d have two years to use the insurance proceeds, but in a federally declared disaster such as the Los Angeles fires, the deadline is extended to four years.

The IRS may be willing to further extend the deadline under some circumstances, such as contractor delays, Luscombe says. But don’t count on an extension if you’re simply unable to find a replacement property.

If you do purchase a new home elsewhere, any gain from the sale of the lot where your previous home stood also would have to be reinvested in the new home to avoid a current tax on the gain, Luscombe says.

However, the home sale tax exclusion also applies to involuntary conversions. The exclusion allows you to shelter up to $250,000 of gains ($500,000 if married filing jointly) on a sale or involuntary conversion, as long as you’ve owned and lived in the property as your primary residence for two of the last five years. So you could exclude that amount of gain and defer the rest if you rebuild or find a replacement property, Luscombe says.

This is complicated territory, so please make sure you hire a tax pro to guide you.