It is almost two years since the Ministry of Finance decided to give extra exemptions from Capital Gains Tax on the sale of residential apartments. In the past a person owning more than one apartment could only sell an apartment once every four years with an exemption from Capital Gains Tax.
In an effort to encourage owners of multiple apartments to sell, thereby flooding the market with apartments and causing a decrease in prices, these apartment owners were allowed two more exemptions from Capital Gains Tax at the same time.
This meant that a person could sell three apartments at the same time and get an exemption from Capital Gains Tax for all three. This “deal” is coming to a close at the end of December of this year.
However, it has been reported that the Ministry of Finance is considering extending this “deal” beyond the end of December. It is not known for how long. Indeed, it is not known if the extension of the deal will even take place.
The result is that many people do not know how to plan their real estate transactions. Should they rush to sell their apartments before the end of December or not? Should they possibly settle for a lower price and rush to sell now or do they have the luxury of negotiating a better deal?
