Do you lose the tax exemption if you move before selling your main residence?

The capital gain realized on the sale of a principal residence is exempt from tax. To benefit from it, it is still necessary that the accommodation is actually your main residence on the date of the transfer …

If you have already moved and the accommodation is unoccupied on the day of the sale, you can still benefit from the exemption reserved for the main residence, on two conditions: you have occupied this accommodation until it is put up for sale, and the transfer takes place within a normal period.

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The assessment of the normal period of sale depends on the circumstances of the transaction: conditions of the local real estate market, asking price, particularities of the property, steps taken by the seller to put it up for sale, etc.

One year of vacancy

The tax administration considers that, in a normal economic context, a period of vacancy of one year constitutes in principle the maximum period, but it is always possible to justify a longer period. These justifications are, however, strictly assessed by case law.

In one stop of February 16, 2021, the administrative court of appeal of Marseille thus refused to subtract the period of work undertaken by taxpayers from the normal period during which their villa had remained unoccupied, because there was no evidence to justify the interest of the work to allow the quick sale of their property. Be careful not to leave your old main residence unoccupied for too long.