Almost 8% of U.S. homes sold in 2023 exceeded the capital gains tax limit of $500,000 The 2024 tax season officially ended earlier this week, with the IRS expecting Americans to file more than 146 million returns. It is this time of the year that many homeowners who sold their properties during the previous year will enjoy a significant tax benefit on their homeownership investment. Since 1997, homeowners can exclude housing capital gains for up to $500,000 (or $250,000 for a single filer) when they sell their houses. [1] For anything below the exemption limit, homeowners do not even need to report the sale to the IRS.   But with skyrocketing home prices during 2021 and 2022, a growing number of homeowners are finding for the first time that they may owe taxes on excess capital gains beyond the exemption limits. This is because their property values have doubled, tripled …