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Exceptions to this rule

Last updated 3 March 2016

A capital gain or capital loss is not disregarded if a post-CGT asset owned at the time of death passes from the deceased to a tax-advantaged entity or to a non-resident. In these cases, a CGT event is taken to have happened in relation to the asset just before the person died. The CGT event will result in:

  • a capital gain if the market value of the asset on the day the person died was more than the cost base of the asset, or
  • a capital loss if the market value was less than the asset's reduced cost base.

These capital gains and losses should be taken into account in the deceased person's 'date of death return' (the tax return for the period from the start of the income year to the date of the person's death).

However, any capital gain or capital loss from a testamentary gift of property can be disregarded if:

  • the gift is made under the Cultural Bequests Program (which applies to certain gifts of property – not land or buildings – to a library, museum or art gallery), or
  • the gift is made to a deductible gift recipient or a registered political party and the gift would have been income tax deductible if it had not been a testamentary gift.

QC27527