I sold my home and got a check. Do I have to claim it on my tax return?

Primary Home:   You can exclude all of the gain from the sale of your home if you meet a few criteria.

Within a five year period ending on the date of the sale, you must have owned the home for at                    least two years and lived in the home as your primary residence for at least two years.

Therefore, short sales and investment property would not get the gain exclusion because those types of properties are usually sold within two years and more importantly, these homes were not your primary residence. So, both tests would fail in this scenario. Vacation homes and other real estate that is not your primary home would also not apply.

Amount of Gain Excluded: If you meet the criteria above, then you can exclude the gain from the sale of your main home, but it is limited. Taxpayers who do not file joint returns may exclude up to $250,000.00 and joint filers may exclude up to $500,000.00 from their return.

If you can exclude all of the gain from the sale of your main home, then you DO NOT have to report the sale of the home on your tax return. 

If you receive a 1099S, then you should report that on your tax return, but third parties do make mistakes so make sure that the 1099s is correct and doesn’t include any gain that could be excluded.

FYI: There are special rules for taxpayers who claimed the First Time Homebuyers Credit that will not be discussed here.

https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc701