Selling your home comes with a variety of interesting possibilities. It also usually comes with some sort of home tax on the proceeds of the sale. This is especially true if the home happens to be a second home. While your best bet in minimizing tax when selling your home is a chat with a tax advisor or attorney, here are some ground rules to get you started:

How long have you lived in your home?

A home is considered an investment. Therefore, it is subject to capital gains tax, just as selling your bonds or stocks are. (Report capital gains on Schedule D of your 1040form). This means that last year's cut to the capital gains tax rate will benefit you. You pay just 15% (or 10% if you are in a lower income bracket). But there are caveats. One of them is that you have to use the home as your primary residence for at least two years. But, you can get out of the two year rule the home sale is prompted by a need to move due to "unforeseen circumstances," health problems or change of employment.

Marking up the "basis" price for your home

When you buy a home and then sell it, and report for taxes, the cost of your home is more than just the price you paid for it. Marking up the "basis" home price is important because it will minimize the amount of gain, thus reducing the final tax. Here's the deal: the price of the home is the base price. But you can add closing costs to that. That brings up the total cost. Also, if you make permanent improvements to the home (such as new flooring), you can count that as part of the "basis" home price. Make sure you carefully review the permanent improvement rules, though. Some things, like paint for the walls, do not count.

Remember the exclusions to the capital gains tax

There are exclusions to the capital gains tax when it comes to your home sale. Bill Bischoff with Smart Money offers this advice on getting married to reduce your home sale tax:

Say you're single and own a home that could be sold for a profit well above the $250,000 gain exclusion for unmarried folks. I have two words of advice: Get married!

Am I crass for recommending marriage just to reduce your tax bill? Perhaps. But the fact is, you could take advantage of the larger $500,000 joint-filer gain exclusion by selling your home in the year you get married or in a later year. This could reduce your federal income-tax bill by as much as $37,500 ($250,000 times the 15% maximum rate on long-term capital gains). Remember: This is a permanent savings; not just a timing difference.

With a little planning, you can actually do rather well in minimizing your tax when selling your home.