When selling your primary residence, tax issues rarely are a concern. Single filers are exempt from taxes on the first $250,000 of profit, and married filers are exempt from $500,000.

But what if you purchased a house during the recession when prices were low and have rented it out since then? Such home sales don’t offer the same benefits.

An investment home purchased for $80,000 in 2010 would sell for around $350,000 now, a $270,000 profit which comes with a 15% long-term capital gains tax of just over $40,000. For investors who sell a home without owning it for at least a year, the short-term capital gains tax rate can be up to 37%.

You can delay such a tax with a 1031 exchange, which allows you to take all the proceeds of a sale and purchase another property of equal or greater value

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