Kernrechtsfrage
Whether a tax deferral under § 51 StG is possible when almost five years elapsed between replacement purchase and sale of the former home.
Extrahierter Entscheid
No. A period of almost five years between the two transactions is in any event too long to qualify for tax deferral under § 51 StG.
Extrahierte Begründung
Although § 51 StG speaks of replacement acquisition 'in the usual case' within two years and therefore allows exceptions, the temporal limit cannot be stretched to nearly five years. The court left open the absolute maximum and other borderline situations, including temporary rental after purchase, but held that the present delay exceeded any admissible exception.