Brightline rule changes to 2 years
From 1 July 2024 the bright-line property rule is changing. Under this new rule, the bright-line test period will be reduced from 10 years to 2 years, which means you will only need to pay tax on any profit made from selling a residential property if you sell it within 2 years of purchasing it. This applies to properties sold after 1 July 2024.
The date you sell matters
If you sell a property on or after 1 July 2024, the bright-line rule will only apply if the property is sold within 2 years of purchase. However, if you sell before that date, the current bright-line periods apply.
This means that for properties bought between 29 March 2018 and 26 March 2021, the rule applies if sold within 5 years. For those purchased on or after 27 March 2021, it applies if sold within 5 years for qualifying new builds or within 10 years for other residential properties
Main Home Exclusion
Generally, the bright-line rule does not apply if you're selling your main home. To qualify for the main home exclusion, you must use more than 50% of the property's area as your main home and use it as your main home for over 50% of the ownership period.
Building on the land doesn't need to include the construction period to determine if your usage qualifies for the exclusion.
Rollover Relief for Associated Persons
The rollover relief rules will be extended to associated persons, including associated companies, relatives within 2 degrees of relationship, trusts and settlors, beneficiaries, related trusts, partners and partnerships, and look-through companies with their owners.
To qualify for relief, the transferor and transferee must be associated for at least 2 years before the transfer. Additionally, you can only claim rollover relief once within any 2-year period.