When the Government announced on Tuesday that it was extending the bright-line test on residential property to 10 years, from the current five, it prompted a few people to ask: What is a bright-line test, anyway? Being captured by the bright-line test is not the only way you might have to pay tax on a property sale, though. ROBERT KITCHIN/Stuff Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is extending the bright-line test to 10 years. People can use an “own home” exclusion twice in any two-year period to avoid the bright-line test. The bright-line test was originally brought in as a simpler way of applying an income tax on speculators flipping properties.

Source: Stuff March 23, 2021 16:01 UTC