The 6-year rule (or 6-year absence rule) allows Australian homeowners to treat a property as their primary residence for tax purposes for up to six years after moving out, even if it is rented out. This means they can avoid paying capital gains tax (CGT) on the property's increase in value during that period.
Generally, if you hold the asset for more than one year before you dispose of it, your capital gain or loss is long-term. If you hold it one year or less, your capital gain or loss is short-term.
Usually, a property stops being your main residence when you stop living in it. However, for CGT purposes you can continue treating a property as your main residence: for up to 6 years if you used it to produce income, such as rent (sometimes called the '6-year rule')
6 years - If you don't report income that you should have reported, and it's more than 25% of the gross income shown on the return, or it's attributable to foreign financial assets and is more than $5,000, the time to assess tax is 6 years from the date you filed the return.
The Six-Month Rule
First, the property must have been your primary residence for at least three months within the 12 months before selling it. Secondly, you must not have used the property to make assessable income in any way within the 12 months before selling.
You cannot nominate another property as your main residence during the period you're applying this rule. If you move back into the property and live in it again, the six-year clock resets.
On a $100,000 capital gain, you'll likely pay 15% for long-term gains, resulting in about $15,000 in federal tax (plus potential state tax), but it could be 0% or 20% depending on your total taxable income and filing status, while short-term gains are taxed as ordinary income (potentially 22-24%).
Generally, the IRS can include returns filed within the last three years in an audit. If we identify a substantial error, we may add additional years. We usually don't go back more than the last six years. The IRS tries to audit tax returns as soon as possible after they are filed.
The main residence exemption is one of the most powerful tools available to Australian property owners. It allows you to avoid capital gains tax on the sale of a property if it has been your principal place of residence (PPOR) for the entire ownership period. To qualify, the property must have been your genuine home.
To qualify for 0% capital gains tax, you must have long-term capital gains (assets held over a year) and your taxable income (after deductions) must fall below specific IRS thresholds, which change annually but are roughly <$48,350 for single filers and <$96,700 for married filing jointly for the 2025 tax year, allowing for higher total income when combined with deductions like the standard deduction. The key is keeping your adjusted gross income (AGI) low enough so that after subtracting deductions, your taxable income remains within these limits.
The reserve must be recalculated to determine the allowable deduction, if any, in the year following the year a reserve is claimed. Generally, the maximum period over which you can spread out the taxation of a capital gain is five years.
As long as you sell your first investment property and apply your profits to the purchase of a new investment property within 180 days, you can defer taxes.
The 20% rule for capital gains refers to the highest federal tax rate for long-term capital gains, applying to higher income brackets when you sell investments (stocks, real estate) held for over a year, with lower rates of 0% and 15% for lower incomes, and even higher rates for special assets like collectibles. This rate kicks in for single filers earning over approximately $492,300 (2024) or $533,401 (2025), and higher for joint filers, making holding assets over a year a key tax strategy.
Your capital gain (profit) is $200,000. Your taxable capital gain with the 50% discount applied is $100,000. Your estimated capital gains tax obligation is $37,175.
The simplest way to avoid capital gains tax is to regularly use your capital gains tax allowance (officially known as your annual exempt amount or AEA). How easy this is to do depends on the assets you are selling.
Does reinvesting reduce capital gains? Real estate investors can employ certain tax strategies to potentially defer gains on the sale of a property. But with stocks, reinvesting your gains does not reduce the federal income taxes you may owe.
Capital gains tax on $300,000 depends on your filing status and total income, but for most, it will be taxed at the 15% federal rate, meaning around $45,000 in tax, potentially rising to 20% if your total income is very high, and you'll also need to account for state taxes and potentially a 3.8% Medicare surtax. A $300,000 gain usually falls into the 15% bracket for single filers (above $48,350) and married filing jointly (above $96,700), while for married filing separately, it hits the 20% bracket (over $300,000).
A common way to defer or reduce your capital gains taxes is to use tax-advantaged accounts. Retirement accounts such as 401(k) plans, and individual retirement accounts offer tax-deferred investment. You don't pay income or capital gains taxes on assets while they remain in the account.
In California, real property is one of the most valuable assets you can inherit from a loved one. But inheriting real estate that has increased in value over time can trigger capital gains tax consequences when you sell that piece of property.
Who qualifies for 0% capital gains in 2025. Starting in 2025, single filers can qualify for the 0% long-term capital gains rate with taxable income of $48,350 or less, and married couples filing jointly are eligible with $96,700 or less. However, taxable income is significantly lower than your gross earnings.
The primary "one-time" capital gains exemption in the U.S. allows single filers to exclude up to $250,000 (or $500,000 for married couples filing jointly) of profit from selling their main home, provided they've owned and lived in it for at least two of the last five years before the sale. While it's often called a one-time exclusion, you can use it multiple times, but you must wait two years before claiming it again on another property.
Billionaires often employ the “buy, borrow, die” strategy to avoid income and capital gains taxes. First, they acquire appreciating assets like stocks or real estate. Instead of selling these assets when they need cash (which would trigger capital gains tax), they borrow against them at favorable interest rates.