A process for isolating pure tert-butyl (meth)acrylate from crude tert-butyl (meth)acrylate by distillation, wherein the process is carried out in a dividing wall column which has separation-active internals and vaporizer and in which a dividing wall is arranged in the longitudinal direction of the column to form an upper joint column region, a lower joint column region, an inflow section (10, 12) having a side feed point and an offtake section (11, 13) having a side offtake point, the column has a number of theoretical plates in the range from 20 to 80, where the number of theoretical plates of the dividing wall column relates to the sum of the theoretical plates in the joint upper column region, the joint lower column region and the inflow section (10, 12), the side feed point for the crude tert-butyl (meth)acrylate is arranged at a theoretical plate in the region commencing at least two theoretical plates above the bottommost theoretical plate and ending at least two theoretical plates below the uppermost theoretical plate, the side offtake point for the pure tert-butyl (meth)acrylate is arranged at a theoretical plate in the region commencing at least two theoretical plates above the bottommost theoretical plate and ending at least two theoretical plates below the uppermost theoretical plate and the dividing wall is arranged in the column in the region commencing at least one theoretical plate above the bottommost theoretical plate and ending at least one theoretical plate below the uppermost theoretical plate, where the ratio of amounts of liquid at the upper end of the dividing wall going to the enrichment section and the stripping section of the column is set in the range from 1:0.2 to 1:5 and the ratio of amounts of the vapor streams at the lower end of the dividing wall going to the stripping section and the enrichment section of the column is set in the range from 1:0.5 to 1:2.0, where the butyl acrylate is tert-butyl acrylate and the crude tert-butyl acrylate has the following composition: from 40 to 90% by weight of tert-butyl acrylate, from 0.1 to 50% by weight of acrylic acid, from 0.1 to 5% by weight of isobutene, from 0.1 to 5% by weight of diisobutene, from 0.1 to 5% by weight of relatively high boilers (relative to tert-butyl acrylate), from 0.1 to 5% by weight of further low boilers (relative to tert-butyl acrylate), or where the butyl acrylate is tert-butyl methacrylate and the crude tert-butyl methacrylate has the following composition: from 40 to 90% by weight of tert-butyl methacrylate, from 0.1 to 50% by weight of methacrylic acid, from 0.1 to 5% by weight of isobutene, from 0.1 to 5% by weight of diisobutene, from 0.1 to 5% by weight of relatively high boilers (relative to tert-butyl methacrylate), from 0.1 to 5% by weight of further low boilers (relative to tert-butyl methacrylate). from 40 to 90% by weight of tert-butyl acrylate, from 0.1 to 50% by weight of acrylic acid, from 0.1 to 5% by weight of isobutene, from 0.1 to 5% by weight of diisobutene, from 0.1 to 5% by weight of relatively high boilers (relative to tert-butyl acrylate), from 0.1 to 5% by weight of further low boilers (relative to tert-butyl acrylate), from 40 to 90% by weight of tert-butyl methacrylate, from 0.1 to 50% by weight of methacrylic acid, from 0.1 to 5% by weight of isobutene, from 0.1 to 5% by weight of diisobutene, from 0.1 to 5% by weight of relatively high boilers (relative to tert-butyl methacrylate), from 0.1 to 5% by weight of further low boilers (relative to tert-butyl methacrylate).