If you sell a home, you might or might not to file an IRS form, depending on how long you owned and lived in the home and the size of your capital gain.

Generally, if you owned and lived in the home as your primary residence for at least two of the past five years, you do not owe federal income tax on up to $250,000 in capital gains if you are single or $500,000 if you are married. To determine your profit, you must deduct from your net sales proceeds your cost basis, which includes what you paid for the home, certain improvements, plus any cost basis you rolled into the home from a home or homes you sold before the law changed May 6, 1997.

If you do not owe federal income tax on your gain, you generally don’t need to file a tax form.

If you do owe tax, either because you failed the ownership or use test or your gain was above the taxable threshold, you must report the gain on IRS Form 1040, Schedule D, Capital Gains and Losses.

As with any tax law, there are exceptions to these rules so be sure to read IRS Publication 523, Selling Your Home, which can be found at www.irs.gov.