Need advice on taxation of primary residence sale...

I am interested in seeing if I qualify for a PARTIAL $250,000 exemption of IRS tax rule 121 given my situation:

I bought a condo in Los Angeles (my principal residence) in November of 2003. I was self-employed at the time, but in the last year, I have not worked. (I have been working on remodeling my condo.) I now have an opportunity to go to work for a company in San Francisco.

Would I qualify for exception #1 of “partial exemption” to rule 121 assuming I will be working full-time going forward? In other words, does it matter that I have voluntarily chosen to relocate myself (for a job) rather than been involuntarily relocated by an employer ??

Provided you accept the position in SF, then your relocation is required by a change in job location and you qualify for the partial capital gains exclusion.

chedrick…

IRS Publication 523 deals with this issue:
http://www.irs.gov/publications/p523/ar02.html#d0e3011

You qualify for a partial (“Reduced Maximum Exclusion” in IRS-speak) if your new residence is at least 50 miles farther from your home than your previous employment or, in your case, at least 50 miles from your previous home to your new place of employment.

Keith

Let’s clarify the job relocation rules to qualify for a “reduced maximum exclusion” on the sale of your primary residence.

If you are currently employed, you qualify for the reduced exclusion on the sale of your current home if the new place of employment is at least 50 miles farther from your current home than the former place of employment was. In other words, the commute from your current home to your new job must be at least 50 miles longer than the commute from your current home to your former job.

If you are not currently employed (you don’t have a commute), you qualify for the reduced exclusion on the sale of your current home if the distance between your new place of employment and your current home is at least 50 miles.

thank you very much.