Guides to the bright-line test and capital gains
Plain English, checked against Inland Revenue’s guides, with every figure worked out by the same engine as the calculators.
Bright-line dates: which date counts when you buy and sell
The 2 years run from the day title is registered to you to the day you sign a binding sale agreement; settlement of the sale only decides which tax year the profit falls in.
Read the guide →Bright-line test history: the 2, 5 and 10 year rules
For a sale agreed before 1 July 2024, the date you signed to buy sets the period: 2, 5 or 10 years, or 5 for a qualifying new build. From 1 July 2024 every sale uses 2 years.
Read the guide →The bright-line test explained: the 2-year rule for NZ property
Sell residential property within 2 years of title registering to you and the profit is taxed at your marginal rate, unless an exclusion such as the main home applies.
Read the guide →Crypto tax in NZ: when IRD taxes your cryptoasset gains
IRD treats crypto as property. If your main purpose when you acquired it was to sell or exchange it, which IRD says is usually the case, the profit is taxed at your marginal rate.
Read the guide →Bright-line deductible costs: what you can subtract from the gain
You are taxed on net profit, not the sale price less what you paid. Purchase costs, capital improvements and selling costs all come off; holding costs only count in limited cases.
Read the guide →Does NZ have a capital gains tax? What is and is not taxed
No general capital gains tax, but several rules tax particular gains as ordinary income at your marginal rate: the bright-line test, the intention test, dealer rules, crypto, share trading and the FIF rules.
Read the guide →How a bright-line gain is taxed: marginal rates, tax year and provisional tax
There is no separate capital gains rate. The net gain is added to your other income for the year settlement falls in and taxed at your marginal rates, from 10.5% to 39%.
Read the guide →Inherited property and the bright-line test in NZ
Inherited residential property passes to the executor and beneficiary at the deceased's cost, and the beneficiary's later sale is not taxed under the bright-line test.
Read the guide →The intention test: when land you bought to resell is taxed in NZ
If you bought land with a firm intention or purpose of selling it, the profit is taxable whenever you sell, with no time limit, unless the residential or business premises exclusion applies.
Read the guide →Labour's capital gains tax proposal explained (not law)
Labour proposes a flat 28% tax on gains made after 1 July 2027 on residential and commercial property, excluding the family home and farms. It is a campaign proposal, not law, and no government has been formed.
Read the guide →The main home exclusion: when the bright-line test lets you off
Use more than half the land as your main home and live there for more than half the bright-line period, and the whole sale is excluded; fall short on either and the whole profit is taxable.
Read the guide →New builds and the bright-line test: the old 5-year rule
New builds had a 5-year bright-line period instead of 10 years for sales before 1 July 2024; since then every property uses the same 2-year test, so the rule only matters for older sales.
Read the guide →Renting part of your home: flatmates, Airbnb, a minor flat and the bright-line test
The main home exclusion needs more than 50% of the land used as your main home and more than 50% of the bright-line period. Flatmates generally do not affect it; renting out most of the land or the whole house for long stretches can.
Read the guide →Bright-line losses: how they are ring-fenced and carried forward
A bright-line loss can only reduce bright-line profits or other taxable land sale income, now or in a later year. It never reduces salary, wages, rental or business income.
Read the guide →Bright-line rollover relief: family trusts, partners and relatives
A transfer between associated people or to a qualifying family trust is treated as at cost, and the new owner keeps the original start date; it does not restart the clock.
Read the guide →Selling a rental property in NZ: tax steps from listing to filing
Check the bright-line dates before you sign, add up purchase, improvement and selling costs, and if the sale is taxable file an IR833 with your IR3 for the year the sale settles.
Read the guide →Selling property after separation: bright-line and relationship property
A transfer between former partners under a relationship property agreement is not taxed, but the partner who keeps the property takes the original start date; a joint sale to a buyer gets no rollover.
Read the guide →Selling NZ property from overseas: bright-line, RLWT and your old home
Living overseas does not take you out of the bright-line test. Offshore sellers can also have RLWT deducted at settlement, which is a credit you claim back in a return. Your old home can still be excluded if you lived there more than half the period.
Read the guide →Tax on shares in NZ: share gains, traders and the FIF rules
Most long-term NZ share investors pay no tax on gains, only on dividends. Gains are taxed if you bought mainly to sell or trade. Foreign shares costing over $50,000 in total usually fall under the FIF rules.
Read the guide →Subdividing and selling a section: bright-line and land tax rules
A subdivided section keeps the start date of the original land for the bright-line test, but a subdivision can also be taxed under the intention test or the 10-year development rules.
Read the guide →More tools
Other questions about selling
Bright-line calculator
Tax on a sale under every bright-line period.
Open →Main home test
Does the main home exclusion apply? Days and land area.
Open →Is my gain taxable?
Property, shares or crypto: a plain outcome with the IRD reference.
Open →End date finder
The first day a sale agreement is clear of the bright-line test.
Open →Election 2026
Current law and every party’s position, with Labour’s proposal on your sale.
Open →