CGT — Capital Gains Tax

Selling a CGT asset (shares, crypto, investment property, business assets, collectibles over $500) is the main trigger. So is gifting one, transferring it on relationship breakdown (with rollover available), or having it destroyed without insurance. Disposing of your main residence is usually exempt — but not always.

Individuals and trusts that hold a CGT asset for more than 12 months get a 50% discount on the resulting gain. Companies don't get the discount — they pay tax on the full gain at the company rate. Self-managed super funds in accumulation phase get a 33⅓% discount; in pension phase, gains can be tax-free.

Your main residence is generally CGT-exempt while you live in it. Complications: working from home and claiming a portion (partial loss of exemption), renting it out for a period, owning it for less than the period it was your main residence, or owning multiple properties. The 'six-year rule' lets you treat a former main residence as still your main residence for up to six years of absence in many cases — useful for FIFO workers and military families.

Every disposal is a CGT event. 'Disposal' includes crypto-to-crypto trades, swapping one token for another, and using crypto to pay for goods. Buying coffee with Bitcoin is a CGT event on the coffee. Records of every transaction with date, amount and AUD value at the time are required — software like Koinly or CoinTracking is usually worth the cost for active traders.

· Treating the buy-sell as a single transaction without tracking the cost base correctly (purchase price + brokerage + improvements + holding costs) · Forgetting that CGT applies to crypto-to-crypto swaps even when no AUD changes hands · Claiming the main-residence exemption on a property that was rented out without applying the partial exemption rules · Missing the small-business CGT concessions when selling a business — these can reduce or eliminate the gain entirely if you qualify · Realising losses without applying them against gains in the same or future years (carry-forward is straightforward but only if reported)

Before selling, ideally. CGT planning months or years in advance often reduces the gain — through timing, structure, or applying the small-business concessions. For crypto, we work with your transaction history regardless of which platform. CGT calculations are quoted at $99 per event added to a personal return, or scoped separately for complex business or property disposals.