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Partial exemption

Last updated 18 February 2018

Main residence for only part of the period you owned it

If a CGT event happens to a dwelling you acquired on or after 20 September 1985 and that dwelling was not your main residence for the whole time you owned it, you get only a partial exemption.

You calculate the part of the capital gain that is taxable as follows:

  • total capital gain made from the CGT event multiplied by
    (number of days in your ownership period when the dwelling was not your main residence ÷ total number of days in your ownership period
Start of example

Example 66: Main residence for part of the ownership period

Andrew bought a house on 1 hectare of land under a contract that was settled on 1 July 1990 and moved in immediately. On 1 July 1993, he moved out and began to rent out the house. He did not choose to treat the house as his main residence for the period after he moved out, although he could have done this under the continuing main residence status after dwelling ceases to be your main residence rule. The home first used to produce income rule does not apply because Andrew used the home to produce income before 21 August 1996.

A contract for the sale of the house was entered into on 1 July 2016 and settled on 31 August 2016 and Andrew made a capital gain of $100,000. As he is entitled to a partial exemption, Andrew’s capital gain is as follows:

$100,000 × (8,463 days ÷ 9,559 days) = $88,534

As Andrew entered into the contract to acquire the house before 11.45am (by legal time in the ACT) on 21 September 1999 but the CGT event occurred after this date, and he had owned the house for at least 12 months, Andrew can choose to use the discount method or the indexation method to calculate his capital gain.

End of example

If a dwelling was not your main residence for the whole time you owned it, some special rules may entitle you to a full exemption or to extend the partial exemption you would otherwise get. These rules apply to land or a dwelling if you:

Note: You cannot choose to treat a building or a unit in a building as your main residence if immediately after you cease to occupy it as your main residence you commence converting it into commercial premises.

QC51236