Sponsors (13)
The bill helps seniors keep more after-sale proceeds and encourages sales to first-time buyers to expand homeownership, but it reduces federal revenue and creates legal/compliance risks and time-limited, capped benefits that can produce planning problems.
Seniors (age 65+) who sell a home to a verified first-time buyer can exclude gain up to a $500,000 sale price from federal tax, letting them keep more proceeds at sale.
First-time homebuyers gain easier access to market inventory because sellers may be incentivized to sell to verified first-time buyers, improving prospects for young adults and middle-class families to buy homes.
The tax exclusion is narrowly targeted to support a public-policy goal: increasing homeownership among people who have never owned a principal residence.
All taxpayers face reduced federal revenue because the exclusion lowers taxable receipts, which could increase deficits or force spending cuts or higher taxes elsewhere.
Buyers must sign a perjury statement to qualify; false certifications expose buyers to criminal penalties and add compliance burdens and liability for closing agents and title professionals.
The $500,000 sale-price cap and the program's sunset (end of 2031) limit who benefits and create cliff effects and planning uncertainty for sellers near the cutoff or the expiration date.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Creates a temporary exclusion of gain on home sales when the seller is 65+ and the buyer is a first-time homebuyer, with sale-price cap $500,000 and buyer perjury declaration.
Introduced January 14, 2026 by John J. McGuire · Last progress January 14, 2026
Creates a temporary tax exclusion so sellers age 65 or older can exclude gain on the sale of real property when the buyer is a first-time homebuyer who will use the property as their principal residence, provided the sale price is $500,000 or less and the buyer signs a sworn statement that they (or their spouse) never owned a principal residence. The rule displaces the existing principal-residence exclusion for covered sales, becomes effective for sales after December 31, 2026, and sunsets after December 31, 2031. The provision applies to the seller (or either spouse on a joint return) being at least 65 at the sale date, requires the buyer to meet the first-time homebuyer declaration, and limits the exclusion to sales priced at $500,000 or below; it modifies the Internal Revenue Code by adding a new section that temporarily changes tax treatment for such transactions.