CGT and change in property use

We settled on a property in January 2017 which we initially planned to develop or renovate and rent out. We have now started renovating and are instead considering moving into the property and selling our PPOR. There is a mortgage on the property flagged as an ‘investment’ product, I’m not sure if that makes any difference to the rest of my question.

We have never advertised the property for rent or engaged an agent to rent the property out but we had flagged it as a new investment property on our recently submitted 2018 ITWV with rent estimates for later in the 2018FY. Since settlement in January, the property has been sitting vacant while we renovate.

Since it’s never been used as investment property, if we sell our existing PPOR and move in then sell at a later date would any CGT be applicable from the time it settled and up until we sell our current PPOR and move in? (i.e. we would have technically had 2 PPOR for that period of time). Any other issues we should be aware of that we may not have thought about?

 

You can only have one main residence at any one time, but there is provision for a 6 month overlap period.

Depending on the circumstances it could be CGT exempt but even if it is not it would be very likely there would not no CGT payable because of the short period and the ability to use interest and other costs to reduce CGT payable.

 

Personal tax advice may be suggested. There are tax cases the tax office rely on based on your original intent. But its not always that specific. Tax advice would also consider the calculations and options to minimise