Selling real estate - taxes?

[OxygeN]

Hi all.
I've always heard that if you sell real estate, you are heavily taxed on the surplus you'd be making. Lately I got a figure from a financial advisor: in Aargau after 25 years of owning real estate, you get taxed 5% when you sell it. I don't know how this exactly works: are you taxed only on the surplus you make?
Also: I've heard that you're only taxed if you retrieve the surplus as capital. If you invest it in another real estate, you're not taxed - can anyone help understanding whether this is true or not and how it is regulated?
TIA

 

[Baptiste Wicht]

Hi

I am not entirely on the transfer part, but I believe that if you sell and buy back something else for the same reason (selling primary residence and buying primary residence), you are indeed delaying the capital gains to the point where you sell the new one. But that's something to double-check. VZ seems to agree with this (here).

And the taxes indeed are only on the capital gains and will wildly vary from each canton based on the duration during which the property was held.