Section 26AAA
23.75. Section 26AAA was inserted into the Act in 1973 and by the introduction of a time-limit seeks to remove some of the difficulties inherent in section 26 (a) by including in the assessable income of the taxpayer any profit arising from the sale of property (other than the taxpayer's home realised as a result of a change in his place of employment or business) within twelve months of its purchase. In the absence of a capital gains tax of the type referred to above, it achieves a measure of certainty in that, in effect, it is a short-term capital gains tax. However, where property is held for more than twelve months after its acquisition, the taxpayer and the Commissioner are then faced with the problems which section 26 (a) creates. In practice a great many land transactions, and probably a number of other property sales, will fall outside the ambit of the section. The section also does not take into account any deductions for losses incurred when property is sold within twelve months; nor does it make any provision for the cases where through some unexpected hardship the taxpayer is forced to realise his property, especially his residence, within the time-limit. The Committee does not favour a short-term capital gains tax by reason of the complexities such a method of taxation involves, in particular in conjunction with the general capital gains tax the Committee has proposed. Having regard to the wider application of the capital gains tax recommended above, the Committee also recommends the repeal of section 26AAA.