Capital Gains Tax Question.
Does anyone know how long you must reside at a residence before you are hit with capital gains taxes? Also, can general contractors be declared as real estate brokers if they sell a certain number of homes per year? Anyones help appreciated.
dlbuilder,
You have to live in the house for two years before selling to avoid capital gains tax, or you can do a 1031 tax deferred exchange which I am not that familiar with but people do it all the time! no clue on the second part of your question. If I had to guess I'd say no. Hope that helps!
Not sure what you mean by "Real Estate Broker"
I think you mean Real Estate as a business.
If so, you can get away with paying a less amount of taxes with flipping two or so properties a year. As long as you can prove that all it was done as "Investment" purposes. Not as a full time business. You have to spend so many hours a week for it to be considered a full time business. As you do more than two houses a year it is going to be more difficult to prove your case as doing it as investment purposes.