My family and I are debating moving from Wyoming (meaning no state or city income tax) to Ithaca New York (meaning around 6% state income. doesn't look like there's a city tax there). We'll be selling a house, and then looking to buy. We'll about break even after selling, if you count up what we did to finish a room and add windows, plus our down payment. (Isn't there something special I can do if we lose money?)
It looks like as long as we don't sell before the 2 year mark, then the profit will be tax free, under 500K (filing jointly). I just wanted to make sure I was understanding that correctly?
Also, it may behoove us to sell some index funds for affording the new house. Is there anything that shelters some tax from selling stock if buying real estate? Also, (this may need to go in the tax subsection of the forum) when does residency change, in terms of tax liability? For instance, should I sell some while still a Wyoming resident? Or the fact that the move/change would all be happening in the same year, mean that New York will say "they ended as our resident, therefore you need to pay the taxes here."? Or can I do it right before buying or renting, so I'm not officially a resident yet? I hope this makes sense. There will be some time that we'll be homeless (travel and live with some family) between selling our house and finding a new one (either buy or rent), so it's not like we'd immediately become NY residents.
What else am I missing?
Thanks in advance!
