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A special rule

Last updated 30 August 2010

There is a general rule that capital gains tax applies to any change of ownership of a CGT asset, unless the asset was acquired before 20 September 1985 (pre-CGT).

There is a special rule that allows any capital gain or capital loss made on a post-CGT asset to be disregarded if, when a person dies, an asset they owned passes:

  • to their legal personal representative or to a beneficiary, or
  • from their legal personal representative to a beneficiary.

Any capital gain or capital loss can also be disregarded if the person makes a testamentary gift of property (that is not land or a building) to a public library, a museum or an art gallery in Australia. This also applies to a testamentary gift to the Australiana Fund (under the Cultural Bequests Program), as long as the Minister for Communications and the Arts certifies that the gift meets the specific requirements of the program.

QC16195