There are special rules for a dwelling you acquire as a beneficiary or the legal representative of a deceased estate. These rules are explained in chapter 9.
There are some special capital gains tax rules that are not covered in this chapter that may affect you if your home was:
- destroyed and you receive money or another asset as compensation or under an insurance policy
- transferred by you as a result of the breakdown of your marriage
- transferred to you as a result of its conversion to strata title, or
- compulsorily acquired by an Australian government agency.
This chapter also does not cover the sale of a rental property, although there is a worked example at appendix 5 showing how to calculate your capital gain or capital loss in this instance. For more information about this situation and the others listed above, you may wish to consult your tax adviser.
If you own more than one dwelling during a particular period, only one of them can be your main residence at any one time.
The exception to this rule is if you move from one main residence to another. In this case you can treat two dwellings as your main residence for a limited time (see Moving from one main residence to another for more information). Special rules apply if you have a different main residence from your spouse or dependent children.