Here in New Hampshire, we’ve just endured a long, mid-term election season, replete with rhetoric, promises and accusations about - what else? - taxes.

For future reference, if any politician wants to convince the public that taxes have become too confusing, all he or she has to do is point squarely at the tax rules that apply when you sell your home.

The Internal Revenue Service has created a pamphlet to explain your obligations, Publication 523 Selling Your Home. ... It’s 32 pages long.

It’s full of details about capital gains and losses, depreciation, adjusted basis, recapture of federal subsidies and, surely what must be a CPA’s favorite word, "exclusions." And in fairness, it does a pretty good job at explaining all the intricacies involved - pretty good, that is, for 32 pages of accountant-speak.

Of course, a lot of the details are for home-sellers in very specific situations, such as selling a house that was used as rental property, or when death or divorce come into play. But there are two basic situations that could apply to a very large number of N.H. home-sellers: profits that exceed capital gain limits and home-office depreciation.

First of all, let’s talk capital gains. A few years ago, Congress thought it would make things easier by increasing the amount of profit you could make from the sale of a house before a capital gain tax applied.

As it stands now (before we swear in a slew of new Congressperson- and Senator-elects), if you’ve owned your home and lived in it for two of the previous five years, you can make a profit up to $250,000 ($500,000 if married) with no tax liability.

You might think that rule hurts only home-sellers who bought luxury homes decades ago. ... Buying low and now selling high for nifty profits. After all, according to the N.H. Bankers Association, in 1971, the average new home sold for a smidge over $28,000. Today, they go for scads more.

But the IRS doesn’t only consider the gains you made on the sale of your latest house; it wants you to calculate in the profits you made from houses you sold prior to 1997 and rolled into buying the house you’re selling now.

For example, let’s say you owned three houses since 1982. You sold your first house for a profit of $60,000 and rolled it into your next home.

You sold the second for a $95,000 profit. And let’s say, in a hot Seacoast market, your current house sells for a $120,000 profit. That could add up to a total gain of $275,000, leaving you liable for taxes on $25,000.

Or maybe not. ... Break out those worksheets.

And speaking of worksheets, what if you have a home office and previously took a few deductions to which you were entitled? According to the IRS, if you used part of your home for business during the ownership-and-use periods, you "cannot exclude the part of your gain equal to any depreciation allowed or allowable as a deduction for periods after May 6, 1997."

What’s that mean? It means you’ll probably owe money, even if you’re profit is well under the $250,000 or $500,000 limit.

Home office deductions are stringent and specific. But generally, you can deduct direct expenses 100 percent and indirect expenses based on the percentage of your house your home office occupies. For example, if your home office comprises 25 percent of your total home square footage, you may be able to deduct 25 percent of your utility costs and other expenses.

And whether you claim it or not, your home office may qualify for a deduction for depreciation, the allowance for the wear and tear on the part of your home used for business.

Here’s how the IRS explains it: "If you have qualified business use of your home that entitles you to a depreciation deduction, you are required to reduce your basis in the home by the amount of depreciation allowed (deducted) or allowable (could have been deducted). Whether you choose to deduct the depreciation on your current return(s) will not matter. For tax purposes, you will still be treated as if you had taken the allowable deduction, and your basis is reduced."

To read the rest, visit www.irs.gov and download Publication 523. But if you’re like most people, passages like that translate to "call a tax professional." Oh boy.