CGT – leaving the principal private residence to a spouse or civil partner

In previous issues of Trust and Estates it has been noted that if eg, on the death of the husband he leaves the family home to his widow, s222 (7) TCGA 1992 may restrict the amount of the private residence exemption available to the widow on a later disposal. The effect of s222 (7) TCGA 1992 is that, when a dwelling house has been transferred from husband to wife, or vice versa, for the purposes of the principal private residence exemption the transferee spouse will be treated, for the purposes of TCGA 1992, as having acquired it when the transferor acquired it, but it will be regarded as having been the transferee’s principal residence during any period which it was the transferor’s principal residence.