when the exemption was in effect there were several criteria for homeowners to qualify the seller or at least one title holder had to be 55 or older on the day the home was sold for married couples just one spouse was required to meet this term that spouse also had to be the titleholder on the date of the title transfer for the exemption to be applied only one exemption was allowed per married couple which would preclude one spouse from claiming the exemption for one sale and the other spouse makes a claim for a later sale 
but there was a loophole if a primary home was co owned by two or more unmarried people it was possible for more than one title holder of the appropriate age to qualify for the exemption for the home to qualify the titleholder had to own and use the property as a principal residence for at least three out of the five years immediately prior to selling the house there were personal allowances for time spent away for vacations or medical care 4prior to 1997 in order to receive the exemption the seller or at least one title holder had to be 55 or older on the sale date to qualify for it special considerationsfollowing the passing of the taxpayer relief act of 1997 the new home sale tax burden eased for millions of residential taxpayers regardless of their age the rollovers or once in a lifetime options similar to the over 55 home sale exemption were replaced with new per sale exclusion amounts 5homeowners can qualify to exclude all or part of the gains received from the sale of their main residence from their income the act raised the amount of excludable gain to 250 000 per taxpayer or 500 000 on a joint return filed by a married couple the law also permitted more than one exclusion per taxpayer per lifetime the taxpayer however can not exclude the gain from another home sale during the two year period ending on the sale date 6post 1997 homeowners are required to pass ownership and use tests if they wish to qualify for these exemptions to satisfy the ownership test taxpayers must have owned the home for at least two years the use test on the other hand requires sellers to live in the home as their main residence for at least two years both tests must be satisfied during the five year period up to the date of the sale homeowners who use their homes for business or rental income may also qualify they must pass the homeownership and use tests also 7example of a home owner s exemptionfor example if an individual purchased a property in 2000 and lived there until 2001 the owner then rented the property for the following two years the owner decided to move back once the tenant left and lived there until 2005 the owner then sold the property in this case the owner can still qualify for the exemption because the property was used as a primary residence for at least two of the five years leading up to the sale 6can i file an over 55 home sale exemption prior to the passage of the taxpayer relief act of 1997 qualifying homeowners age 55 or older weren t required to pay taxes on the sale of their primary home when the act passed it stripped the age requirement out of the home sale exemption 