Taxpayers will lose the exemption for the sale of their home if they do not reside in it

The application of the exemption in Personal Income Tax (IRPF) for the transfer of a primary residence is subject to strict temporal residence requirements. A recent resolution from the Dirección General de Tributos (DGT) clarifies the necessary conditions for this tax benefit to be effective in cases of changes in residence due to personal or health reasons.

What the DGT has resolved

The inquiry analyzes whether a taxpayer can benefit from the exemption provided in Article 33.4.b) of the IRPF Law after having ceased to reside in their home years before the sale. The tax authority's criteria establish that, for a home to be considered a primary residence, it must have been the taxpayer's residence for a continuous period of at least three years, or must have been so up to any day within the two years prior to the transfer.

In the case analyzed, since the cessation of residence in the home occurred at a time exceeding the two-year period prior to the sale, the legal requirement was not met. Therefore, the DGT determines that the exemption for the transfer of a primary residence is not applicable.

What this means for you

If you are an individual planning to sell a property and intend to claim the tax exemption due to dependency or age, you must precisely verify your residence history. The benefit is not automatic simply because you were the owner of the home or lived in it in the distant past. The regulations require a very specific continuity or temporal proximity:

• You must have resided in the home continuously for at least three years.
• Alternatively, you must have maintained residence in the home until the date of the sale or, at a minimum, during the two years immediately preceding it.

If you stop residing in the home and a period exceeding two years passes before the sale is finalized, the property loses its classification as a primary residence for the purposes of this specific exemption.

What you should do

Before carrying out any real estate sale operation where an exemption for a primary residence is intended to be applied, it is necessary to conduct an analysis of the effective residence situation. It is fundamental to have documentation that proves the tax domicile and actual residence during the periods required by the IRPF Law. Since compliance with these deadlines is decisive for the tax impact of the operation, each situation must be assessed individually to avoid contingencies with the Tax Administration.