Those over 65 must have held full ownership of their home for three years

The application of exemptions in Personal Income Tax (IRPF) for the transfer of a primary residence requires strict compliance with temporal and ownership conditions. Recently, the Directorate General of Taxes (DGT) has specified the necessary criteria for a property to be legally considered a primary residence in cases involving individuals over 65 or reinvestment.

What the DGT has ruled

The binding ruling determines that, to access the exemptions provided for in current regulations, the home must have been the effective residence of the taxpayer for a minimum period of three continuous years. However, the resolution adds a fundamental ownership requirement: the taxpayer must have held full ownership of the home during that same three-year period.

This implies that the calculation of residency time cannot include periods prior to the acquisition of full ownership. If a person has resided in a property but was not the full owner, that time cannot be counted to meet the requirement demanded by the Administration.

What this means for you

This criterion directly affects individuals planning to sell their home to apply the exemption based on age or reinvestment into another property. If you have recently acquired full ownership of your residence, the three-year countdown required for the exemption will begin from that moment, regardless of how long you have lived in the property previously.

The applicable regulations, based on the IRPF Law and its Regulations, require that the occurrence of effective residence and full ownership be simultaneous during the required three-year period. Any discrepancy between the possession of ownership and effective residence could invalidate the application of the exemption during an inspection.

What you should do

It is necessary to verify the exact date on which full ownership of the home was acquired and compare it with the effective residency time. In situations where ownership has changed or has been recently completed, it must be evaluated whether the three-year period required by the DGT is met before proceeding with the transfer of the property under the protection of these exemptions.