One are of the tax code that has become friendlier to taxpayers is the rule for home sales. The law allows a person who uses the home as a main residence for 2 of 5 years before selling it, the right to exclude from capital gains taxes up to $500,000 for joint filers or $250,000 for a single filer.

But there's even more good news. The two years in which you must own the home don't have to be the same two years as your principal residence. In other words, you could live in the home for two years, then rent it for two more and still exclude capital gains.

This tax exclusion is even available for the part of your home that was used for business.

Can you stand another piece of good news?

This exclusion is also good for sale of land adjacent to your home, even if it's sold to a different buyer at a different time, as long as the sale is done within 2 years before or after the home is sold.

Who said the IRS is mean?