Do I Have to Pay Capital Gains Tax on an Inheritance Sale?

Capital gains tax is a complicated area of the Taxationasset at the time of acquisition. You will need to get a
Law it needs to be applied carefully to identify thevaluation of the asset in order to accurately value it at
correct result when making a determination aboutthe time of death.
whether capital gains tax applies to a particularIf, however, it was not a pre-CGT asset for the
transaction or not. Inheritance is one of the mostperson who dies, you may need details of all relevant
complicated areas of capital gains tax. You need tocosts that they incurred as well as those incurred by
keep special records in relation to the acquisition ofthe trustee, who should be able to give you the
capital gains tax asset through the inheritance exceptappropriate information related to this. Importantly, if
where it is a pre-CGT asset which you acquiredyou inherited after 21 August 1996 a house that was
before 20 September 1985.the main residence of the person that you inherited it
In this case, you need to know if the person youfrom, you can claim a full CGT exemption from the
inherited it from acquired the asset before 20asset as long as you have an appropriate valuation.
September 1985. You also to collect information aboutSo as you can see, if you are inheriting something
the asset value of the property on the day that theyfrom someone CGT can be a very serious concern if
died. In many estates matters, there will be a valuationyou want to sell the asset for cash. You should
of a property from around the time that the persondefinitely seek legal advice about something like this if
passed away. This is the amount of the cost of theyou have any concerns about it.