If you rent the home out after orders, the clock on the home-sale exclusion keeps running, unless you suspend it. Enter your dates to see the 5-year period, how much of it qualified duty can suspend, and the latest closing date that still meets the 2-year use test. General information to bring to your tax professional; talk to your CPA before you rely on a date.
Owner Guides
Renting After a PCS? Your Tax Exclusion Dates
Your 5-year window, any qualified-duty suspension and the latest closing date that still meets the 2-year use test.
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What the IRS rules say
- Ownership: you owned the home at least 24 months (2 years) out of the last 5 years before the closing (IRS Publication 523 (2025), Selling Your Home).
- Use: a total of 24 months (730 days) of residence during the 5-year period; it does not have to be a single block of time.
- Qualified official extended duty: you are called or ordered to active duty for an indefinite period or for more than 90 days, and you serve at a duty station at least 50 miles from the home or live in government quarters under orders.
- The suspension can’t last more than 10 years, and together with the 5-year period it reaches back at most 15 years. It applies to one property at a time, you make the election by filing your return for the year of the sale, and you can revoke it.
- The exclusion is up to $250,000, or $500,000 for a married couple filing jointly, when every test is met.
- Gain equal to depreciation allowed or allowable for periods after May 6, 1997 can’t be excluded, so rental depreciation comes back at the sale.
Renting and selling later
Weighing whether to keep renting at all? Rent or sell when you PCS has the five deciding questions, selling from a distance covers a sale with a tenant in place, and the home sale tax exclusion estimator shows the size of the exclusion.
Common questions
Who can suspend the 5-year period?
IRS Publication 523 names members of the armed forces (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force, Coast Guard) and of the NOAA and Public Health Service commissioned corps, plus Foreign Service personnel, employees of the intelligence community, and Peace Corps employees, enrolled volunteers and volunteer leaders, each on qualified official extended duty.
Can I suspend the period for two homes?
Not at the same time. Publication 523 says you can’t suspend the 5-year period for more than one property at a time.
What happens to depreciation?
The part of the gain equal to depreciation allowed or allowable while the home was rented can’t be excluded. A tax professional works out the figure.
More from Rudy
- Take the Home Strategy Quiz
- Rent or sell when you PCS
- Home sale tax exclusion estimator
- Selling from a distance
- PCS Seller Countdown
- Owning near a San Diego base when orders come
- Book a 15-minute call
Sources, checked Nov 5, 2026: IRS Publication 523 (2025), Selling Your Home.
A planning estimate from the dates you enter, using the tests in IRS Publication 523 (2025). Not tax advice; a tax professional confirms how they apply to you.
General information, not legal, tax or lending advice: an attorney, a tax professional or your lender confirms how these rules apply to you. Not affiliated with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense or any government agency.