Morag McDoogal

At this point this is hypothetical but would love to be educated. Situation is as follows: Have owned a home for over 5 years, maintained as primary residence and can prove continued occupancy. The profit from the sale would be less than $250,000 and would not be buying another home in the USA. On the face of it, it appears that the sale would benefit from exclusion of tax withholding (no other properties or exemptions in the last 5 years). However, the title company would be required to report the transaction as a foreign national is involved. I'm on an E2 so not classed as permanent resident. Does anyone know if capital gains tax applies or not and if so, at what rate. I know that when the time comes, I'll need to engage a tax expert but in the meantime, I'm curious.

Owen778

I know little about the E2 visa, but I'm sure you count as a tax resident of the USA, even if you can't qualify to be a permanent resident. Being resident in the US for tax purposes is separate from counting as an immigration-related permanent resident.

As such, why would the rules on capital gains be any different for you or any other US tax resident?

Morag McDoogal

Well, that's what I thought too but lots of the information out there contradicts this or at the very least muddies the water. Maybe I'm being skeptical but if, in this instance, I get classed as a resident it would actually work to my advantage. I suppose time will tell 🤔

shiversaint

I agree with Owen778. Assuming you live in the U.S. for the majority of the year, you are a tax resident of the U.S. Specific immigration status rarely affects tax eligibility as far as I'm away. Can you point to any of the contradictory resources? Might be easy to rule them in or out.

durham_lad

I was on E2 visas for 5 years when we first moved over and was treated like a regular tax resident. Our UK house was rented out during that time and reported on our US tax returns so if we had sold during that time I can't imagine it being treated differently because we were on an E2 visa. We didn't sell it until we got our green cards.