Section 223 — Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992: Amount of relief.

Amount of relief. 223 1 No part of a gain to which section 222 applies shall be a chargeable gain if the dwelling-house or part of a dwelling-house has been the individual’s only or main residence throughout the period of ownership, or throughout the period of ownership except for all or any part of the last 9 months of that period.

2 Where subsection (1) above does not apply, a fraction of the gain shall not be a chargeable gain, and that fraction shall be—

a the length of the part or parts of the period of ownership during which the dwelling-house or the part of the dwelling-house was the individual’s only or main residence, but inclusive of the last 9 months of the period of ownership in any event, divided by b the length of the period of ownership.

3 For the purposes of sections 222(5) and 222A and subsections (1) and (2) above—

a a period of absence not exceeding 3 years (or periods of absence which together did not exceed 3 years),

and in addition b any period of absence throughout which the individual worked in an employment or office all the duties of which were performed outside the United Kingdom or lived with a spouse or civil partner who worked in such an employment or office , and in addition c any period of absence not exceeding 4 years (or periods of absence which together did not exceed 4 years) throughout which the individual was prevented from residing in the dwelling-house or part of the dwelling-house in consequence of the situation of his place of work or in consequence of any condition imposed by his employer requiring him to reside elsewhere, being a condition reasonably imposed to secure the effective performance by the employee of his duties, and in addition, d any period of absence not exceeding 4 years (or periods of absence which together did not exceed 4 years) throughout which the individual lived with a spouse or civil partner in respect of whom paragraph (c) applied in respect of that period (or periods), shall be treated as if in that period of absence the dwelling-house or the part of the dwelling-house were occupied by the individual as a residence if conditions A and B are met. 3A Condition A is that before the period there was a time when the dwelling-house was the individual’s only or main residence. 3B Condition B is that after the period—

a in a case falling within paragraph (a), (b), (c) or (d) of subsection (3), there was a time when the dwelling-house was the individual’s only or main residence, b in a case falling within paragraph (b), (c) or (d) of that subsection, the individual was prevented from resuming residence in the dwelling-house in consequence of the situation of the individual’s place of work or a condition imposed by the terms of the individual’s employment requiring the individual to reside elsewhere, being a condition reasonably imposed to secure the effective performance by the employee of his duties, or c in a case falling within paragraph (b), (c) or (d) of that subsection, the individual lived with a spouse or civil partner to whom paragraph (b) of this subsection applied. 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

7 In this section “period of ownership”—

a does not include any period before 31 March 1982, and b where the whole or part of the gain to which section 222 applies is a gain which is chargeable to capital gains tax because of section 1A(3)(b) , does not include any period before 6 April 2015 (but see subsection (7A)). 7A Paragraph (b) of the definition of “period of ownership” does not apply in a case where paragraph 8 or 14 of Schedule 4AA applies (the individual has made an election for the retrospective basis of computation to apply). 7B In this section “ period of absence ” means a period during which the dwelling-house or the part of the dwelling-house was not occupied by the individual as a residence.

8 This section is subject to—

a section 224 (amount of relief: further provisions), aa section 225D (private residence of adult placement carer), ... ab section 225E (disposals by disabled persons or persons in care homes etc ),

and b section 226A (private residence relief: cases where relief obtained under section 260).