In Australian federal tax, one of the advantages of an individual owing their own home is the exemption to Income tax under the Main Residence exemption – under Subdivision 118-B of Income Tax Assessment Act 1997.

The Main Residence exemption means when a taxpayer sells their home, any capital gain is exempt from Income Tax.

However, the exemption is not easily applied, as there are many exceptions and rules that need to be considered.

How does Main Residence Work?
Generally, a dwelling is no longer your main residence once you stop living in it.
In some cases you can choose to treat a dwelling as your main residence for Capital Gains Tax purposes even after you move out of it. This is what is called the ‘temporary absence rule’ (TAR) or the “six year rule”.

How does the Temporary Absence Rule work ?
Some of the basic factors for the TAR are as follows:
– For any period the dwelling is not used for income producing purposes after the taxpayer ceases living in it, the taxpayer can treat the dwelling as their main residence indefinitely
– For any period the dwelling is used for income producing purposes, the taxpayer can treat the dwelling as their main residence for a maximum period of six years;
– Where a taxpayer makes this choice, they cannot treat any other dwelling as main residence for that period. This is: they cannot purchase another main residence and live there (with certain exeption see below). They of course can rent and access the exemption.
– A taxpayer cannot cease to use a dwelling as their main residence if the dwelling was never used as their main residence in the first place.

根据澳大利亚联邦税，个人拥有自己房产的一个好处是基于主要居住房可以豁免其所得税。

主要居住房的豁免是指当一个纳税人卖掉自己的房产，任何资本收益都不计做所得税。

然而，豁免条件并不是很容易达到，因为有许多例外和条件需要考虑。

主要居住房是如何适用？

一般情况下，一旦你停止住在你的住房中，该住宅不再是你的主要居住房产。

在某些情况下，即使你搬出该住宅，在资本收益税的角度，你还是可以选择将它作为主要居住房产。这就是所谓的“临时空住规定”（TAR）或“6年规定”。