Let me use some nice round numbers.

12 years ago, I purchased an apt in Zurich for 500kCHF. I will now sell it for 1MioCHF. I have already purchased a house in Lugano (within the allowed 2 yr period) for 1.1MioCHF.

I understand that I can defer the capital gain.

But, let's suppose I sell the Lugano house in 10 years for 1.5Mio or a gain of 400kCHF.

I suppose I will pay the 10 year rate on the 400kCHF from the Lugano house.

What rate will I pay on the deferred tax from Zurich? The 12 year holding rate? A 22 year holding rate? Something else?

I've read a dozen threads and haven't found this. Apologies if it was somewhere obvious and missed.

My take: on the Lugano property you would pay a capital gains tax on the 400'000 gain calculated for holding it for 10 years. The capital gains tax on the 500'000 gain on the Zurich property would be taxed as if you had held it for 22 years, payable when you sold the Lugano property (and didn't replace it with another). See example 1 at this link for support:

http://www.steuerbuch.lu.ch/index/ba...erechnung.html

Fantastic! I adore this forum!

If anyone has any astrophysics, dark matter, dark energy, gravity wave, black hole questions, I'm at your service!

Do gravitons exist?

Absolutely, there are more gravitons in the Universe than anything else (more than photons, more than neutrinos). They have very low energy and are only detected coherently as waves rather than as particles.

Another conundrum on deferring capital gains.

You buy a multi-family house in need of some work. You live in 1 of the 2 flats and renovate the second. Then you sell the 2nd for a profit.

Can you defer your gain into the flat you already live in?

No. Because you can only defer the gains tax of property which you live in. As you live in flat no. 1 you can not defer the tax of No. 2.

Art. 12 Abs. 3 lit. e StHG https://www.admin.ch/opc/de/classifi...index.html#a12

Additionally, if you sell a property and invest it in a multi unit property only the part "invested" in the unit you will live in is tax free.
At least that is cantons Zurich view.
https://www.steueramt.zh.ch/internet...stb-216-3.html

For more details ask your cantons tax office.

__________________
On Strike - ChatGPT knows more than I, so use it (or doesn't it?)

OK. So let's say you live in both parts (or live in flat #1) and then sell flat #1 and live (only) in flat #2.

Open, closed, or wibble?

Does dark matter or energy have anything to do with black Friday?

I'm still trying to understand what happens if one makes say 500K on a property owned for 10 years and the retires to spain etc...

how much would the tax man clobber you for.