The abolition of inheritance tax will affect the tax liability concerning any gain and the deduction entitlement concerning any loss.

The conditions for tax liability are the same before and after 1 January 2014:

• Gains from sale of property will be taxable unless the conditions for tax exemption for housing and holiday homes are met.

If the conditions for tax-free sales aren't met a gain/loss calculation must be performed.

The rules concerning continuity and discontinuity can influence the property’s input value for the receiver of the property as a gift or inheritance. This can be of importance for the calculation of the gain/loss in the event of the taxable sale of the property, as the gain/loss is calculated based on the difference between the input value and the output value.

If you inherited or received a residential property as a gift since January 2014, and you don't meet the conditions for tax exemption through your own period of use and ownership, the tax position of the testator/donor will be decisive for the gain/loss calculation.

In the following, "donor” is used as a common term to refer to testators and donors, while “recipient” is used correspondingly for inheritance, decedent estate and gift recipient.

Sales expenses

Sales expenses in the event of the subsequent sale of a residential property will be deductible if the sale is tax liable. The deduction is given through a reduction in the property’s output value.

If the sale price is equal to the property’s market value upon take-over (in the case of discontinuity) or the sale price is equal to the original input value (in the case of continuity), the recipient's sales expenses will constitute a deductible loss.

Decedent estates

The principles concerning continuity and discontinuity apply correspondingly in connection with assessment of the input value of decedent estates. A decedent estate can't accrue a period of use.