What's the last day you can sell and keep your home-sale exclusion?

How the date is worked out

• If you owned the home and lived in it as your main home for at least 2 of the 5 years before the sale, up to $250,000 of the gain can be excluded from federal income tax. A married couple filing jointly can exclude up to $500,000 when both lived there 2 of those years and neither is blocked by the once-every-2-years rule.
• After you move out, that 5-year window keeps moving, so there is a last closing date on which it still holds 2 years of living there. This check works it out from your dates.
• The once-every-2-years rule: an exclusion on another home sale in the 2 years before this one blocks it. On a joint return it applies to each spouse separately, so one of you can keep your own $250,000.
• The IRS's own examples count the 5-year window in two ways that can differ by a day. This check never gives a later date than either one, and for a few February 28 move-outs its date is a day earlier than both.
• If you rent it out before you sell, the depreciation from the rental years is still taxed when you sell, even on a closing by this date: at your regular rate, at most 25%. This check doesn't calculate it.

Rules from IRS Publication 523, Selling Your Home.

What this check doesn't cover

• Partial exclusions after a move for work, health or another unforeseen reason (mentioned, not calculated).
• The suspension of the 5-year window for military, Foreign Service, intelligence or Peace Corps duty (flagged, not calculated).
• Homes rented out or used as a second home before you moved in.
• The date of a like-kind (1031) exchange: if you got the home in one in the last 5 years, this check applies no exclusion.
• Married filing separately and surviving-spouse returns.
• More than one stretch of living there: one continuous stay from move-in to move-out is assumed.
• Different move-out dates for each spouse: this check uses one move-out date for both of you.
• State tax rules.