Bill
Treasury Laws Amendment (Removing the Widows and Spouses Tax) Bill 2026
before parliament, as at 2026-08-13.
- Sponsor
- Canavan
- Portfolio
- Not recorded
Recorded stages
- introduced — 2026-08-13
- second reading — 2026-08-13
Divisions
No divisions recorded. Most questions are decided on the voices; this does not establish that a bill was unopposed.
Plain-language summary
Written by a model from the explanatory memorandum; not the record, as at 2026-08-13.
This bill would protect people who lose grandfathered tax benefits when an asset changes from multiple to single ownership because of divorce, relationship breakdown, or a joint owner's death.
It would insert new exceptions into the tax law so that a surviving spouse or co-owner can keep using negative gearing or the 50% capital gains tax discount on a residential dwelling they acquire from the deceased.
The surviving spouse or co-owner must have acquired the ownership interest before 7.30pm (AEST) on 12 May 2026, or the dwelling must have been a new residential dwelling for the deceased.
- The bill adds sections 26-156, 26-157 and 26-158 to the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997.
- It allows a surviving spouse to treat the acquisition of a deceased spouse's ownership interest as having happened at the same time the deceased acquired it.
- It allows a surviving co-owner who is not a spouse to treat the acquisition of a deceased co-owner's interest as having happened at the same time the deceased acquired it.
- The bill switches off the default timing rules in subsections 128-15(2) and 128-50(2) for these exceptions.
- It defines key terms such as 'spouse', 'ownership interest', 'acquire' and 'passes' by cross-referencing existing definitions in the tax law.
Surviving spouses and surviving co-owners of residential dwellings who would otherwise lose grandfathered negative gearing or CGT discount benefits after the death of a joint owner.
Sources
em
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