Ngā tūāhua hoko mai, hoko atu e tino kitea ana Common buying and selling situations

If you’re buying a property in any of these common situations, find out if you will need to pay tax when you eventually sell it.

Main home

Your main home is the property where you live for most of the time, or if you have more than 1 property, it’s the one that you have the greatest connection to.

Generally, you do not pay tax on any profit you make from selling your main home.

There are some exceptions to this. Here are the situations where you would need to pay tax.

When you need to pay tax on property sales 

Rental property

If you're buying a property to rent out, you'll have to pay tax on the rental income you earn. You may also have to pay tax on any profit when you sell the property.

Here are the situations where you’d need to pay tax on your rental income and property sale.

When you need to pay tax on property sales 
Renting out investment property

Holiday home

If you sell your holiday home or bach, you’ll only need to pay tax on the profit in these situations.

When you need to pay tax on property sales 

Buying to sell

If you buy a property with the intention of selling it again, you’ll have to pay tax on any profit from the sale. This applies even if reselling was only one of several reasons for buying a property.

Buying property intending to resell it
Renting out a property I intend to sell or flip

Selling unexpectedly

You may have to sell a property unexpectedly, for example due to:

• money problems
• a relationship change
• having to sell a property you intended to rent-out long-term.

Even if you have to sell unexpectedly, the tax rules do not change. Here are the situations where you’ll need to pay tax on a property sale.

When you need to pay tax on property sales 

Struggling to pay?

If you sold for financial reasons and you're having trouble paying your tax bill, we can help.

Debt and insolvency