The short answer
Yes. Rule 501(a)(6) accredits a natural person whose joint income with a spouse or spousal equivalent exceeded $300,000 in each of the two most recent years, with a reasonable expectation of the same level this year. Your spouse does not have to be on the rental's title, does not have to be named on the DST subscription, and since December 2020 does not have to be a spouse at all: a cohabitant in a relationship generally equivalent to marriage counts. What you cannot do is mix tests year by year, and what the joint route does not change is the 1031 rule that the taxpayer who sold is the taxpayer who buys.
At a glance
| Joint income test | Over $300,000 with a spouse or spousal equivalent in each of the two most recent years, expected again this year |
|---|---|
| Individual test | Over $200,000 on your own in each of those years, expected again |
| Spousal equivalent | A cohabitant occupying a relationship generally equivalent to that of a spouse, Rule 501(j), added by the 2020 amendments |
| Effective | The spousal equivalent route took effect December 8, 2020 |
| Mixing tests | Not allowed across the three years unless your marital status changed during them |
| Title and subscription | The spouse need not own the property or sign the DST subscription for the joint test to apply |
| Verification | A Rule 506(c) sponsor may review IRS forms for both of you for the two most recent years |
| Foreign income | The sponsor may translate it at the rate on the year's last day or the average for the year |
The joint route is written into the rule: $300,000 together, two years running, expected again
Rule 501(a)(6) offers two thresholds. A natural person qualifies with individual income over $200,000 in each of the two most recent years, or with joint income with that person's spouse or spousal equivalent over $300,000 in each of those years, and in either case a reasonable expectation of reaching the same income level in the current year. The SEC's summary of the definition states the same two figures for a spouse or partner.
Nothing in the paragraph ties the joint figure to the ownership of the asset being sold or the security being bought. It asks one question about one household number for three years. A seller earning $120,000 whose spouse earns $200,000 meets it; a seller earning $190,000 whose spouse earns $90,000 does not meet either threshold, because $190,000 fails the individual test and $280,000 fails the joint one.
Income is not defined in the rule. What SEC staff have said about vested plan contributions, unrealised appreciation and foreign-currency income is set out in what counts as income for the accredited investor test; this page is about whose income is added together.
You cannot switch between the individual and joint tests from one year to the next
SEC staff interpretation 255.15, published among the Securities Act Rules compliance and disclosure interpretations, asks whether a person may satisfy the individual test in some of the three years and the joint test in the others. If the person's marital status was the same throughout, the answer is no: it is $200,000 alone in all three years or $300,000 jointly in all three.
The interpretation allows one exception. Someone married for only part of the period may use the joint test for the married years and the individual test for the others. That covers a seller who married last year and a seller whose divorce was final this year, in opposite directions.
For a household near the line, check the weaker year first. One year at $290,000 joint fails the route whatever the other two show.
Unmarried partners have counted since December 2020: the spousal equivalent
Rule 501(j) defines a spousal equivalent as a cohabitant occupying a relationship generally equivalent to that of a spouse. The SEC added the term to both the income and net worth tests in the amendments announced on August 26, 2020, so that partners could pool their finances for the purpose of qualifying; the adopting release gives December 8, 2020 as the effective date.
The rule does not define cohabitant further, and no staff interpretation draws the line between a long-term partner and a roommate. A sponsor's questionnaire will ask you to represent that the relationship meets the definition, and under Rule 506(c) it will want IRS forms for both people.
The same definition applies to the net worth route in Rule 501(a)(5), where a partner's retirement and brokerage accounts count toward the joint $1,000,000; what counts toward the net worth test lists the included and excluded items.
Only you sold the property; your spouse's income still counts, and only you subscribe
The securities test and the tax rule run on different tracks. Under the exchange rules the replacement must be acquired by the same taxpayer who transferred the relinquished property, which the same-taxpayer rules and a spouse who is not on title in a community property state explain. So the DST subscription is in the seller's name, or the seller's disregarded entity.
That does not disturb the joint income test. The rule measures the household's income, not the subscriber's share of it. SEC staff interpretation 255.11 says the same for joint net worth: the assets need not be jointly held and the purchase need not be made jointly, and the 2020 adopting release repeats that the securities bought under the joint net worth test need not be purchased jointly. No interpretation says otherwise for income, and the text of paragraph (a)(6) contains no joint-purchase condition.
If a sponsor asks the non-subscribing spouse to sign an acknowledgement, that is the offering's own practice. Interpretation 255.40 notes that a spouse added to the securities' title who made no investment decision may be treated as not being a purchaser at all.
Worked example: $140,000 plus $190,000, and the year that breaks it
Hypothetical, round numbers. You sold a rental held in your name alone. You earned $140,000 in each of the two most recent years and expect the same this year; your spouse earned $190,000 in each. Individually you fail the $200,000 test. Jointly the household earned $330,000 each year and expects it again, so you are accredited under Rule 501(a)(6) and may subscribe to a Rule 506(c) trust in your own name after verification.
Change one number. Your spouse took a sabbatical two years ago and earned $95,000 that year. Joint income was $235,000 in the earlier year and $330,000 in the later one. The earlier year fails, and interpretation 255.15 does not let you use your own income for that year because you were married throughout. The income route is closed, and the sale year's gain does nothing for it, so the household turns to net worth, where the rental's equity counts in full.
A DST is sold as a private placement with no public market; the trust decides when to sell, distributions can be reduced or suspended, and principal can be lost. Passing the income test opens the door to that risk, it does not reduce it. Check both tests with your CPA before you spend an identification slot on a trust that may not be able to accept you.
Related questions
Does my spouse have to sign the DST subscription documents?
Not because of the income test. The subscriber is the taxpayer who sold the relinquished property, and the joint test only asks what the household earned. A sponsor may still ask for a spousal acknowledgement under its own offering documents; that is not a requirement of Rule 501.
We file separate returns. Does the joint test still apply?
The rule speaks of joint income with a spouse, not of a joint return. Under Rule 506(c) the sponsor may review each person's IRS forms for the two most recent years, so separate filing means two sets of forms rather than one.
We are not married but have lived together for years. Do we qualify jointly?
If the relationship is generally equivalent to that of a spouse, Rule 501(j) treats your partner as a spousal equivalent for both the income and net worth tests. The rule gives no further definition, so you will represent that it applies and the sponsor may ask about it.
My spouse's income is earned abroad and paid in another currency. Does it count?
Yes. Under staff interpretation 255.48 the sponsor may translate foreign-currency income using either the rate on the year's last day or the average rate across the year.
If we fail on income, can my spouse's accounts carry us over $1 million?
They can. Joint net worth with a spouse or spousal equivalent counts regardless of whose name is on the account, with the home and its mortgage left out. The rental's equity and the exchange proceeds count as well, which is why many sellers who fail the income test pass on net worth.
Sources
Checked against these publications on October 8, 2026. Rules and figures change; confirm the current version with your CPA or attorney before you act. This page is general information, not tax or legal advice.
- 17 CFR 230.501, Regulation D definitions (Rule 501(a)(6) and 501(j))
- SEC Division of Corporation Finance, Securities Act Rules Compliance and Disclosure Interpretations, Questions 255.11, 255.15, 255.40, 255.48
- SEC press release 2020-191, SEC Modernizes the Accredited Investor Definition (August 26, 2020)
- SEC, Amending the Accredited Investor Definition, Release 33-10824 (effective December 8, 2020)
- SEC, Accredited investor (capital raising building blocks)
- 17 CFR 230.506, Rule 506(c) verification