This guide applies to the 2025–26 income year, being 1 July 2025 to 30 June 2026.

Investments can produce taxable income even where no cash was deposited into your bank account. You may also have a capital gains tax event when you sell, transfer, redeem, exchange or otherwise dispose of an investment.

Common investments include:

Australian and foreign shares;
ETFs and managed funds;
employee shares and options;
cryptocurrency and digital assets;
precious metals and collectables;
foreign investments.

🕵🏾‍♂️ ATO pre-fill information is useful, but it may be incomplete. Please provide the original statements and transaction records.

Important FY2026 CGT Position

For assets disposed of during FY2026, the existing capital gains tax rules continue to apply.

An Australian-resident individual or trust may generally be eligible for the 50% CGT discount where the asset was

held for at least 12 months, subject to the relevant conditions.

Capital losses:

can reduce capital gains;
cannot reduce salary, wages or ordinary business income; and
can generally be carried forward for use against future capital gains.

Future change from 1 July 2027

The 2026 tax reforms do not change the calculation of your FY2026 capital gains.

For affected gains accruing from 1 July 2027, the existing 50% CGT discount will generally be replaced by inflation-based cost-base indexation and a minimum-tax mechanism. Transitional rules apply to assets already held at that date.

These future rules should be reviewed before disposing of a significant investment after 30 June 2027.

Shares and Dividends

Dividends

Declare all dividends paid or credited during FY2026, including:

franked dividends;
unfranked dividends;
franking credits;
foreign dividends;
dividends reinvested under a dividend reinvestment plan.

A franked dividend is reported together with its franking credit.

Example

You receive:

cash dividend: A$700;
franking credit: A$300.

Your tax return generally includes:

Item	Amount
Franked dividend	A$700
Franking credit	A$300
Gross assessable amount	A$1,000

The A$300 franking credit is then considered as a tax offset.

Please provide each dividend statement or a reliable annual investment report.

Dividend Reinvestment Plans

A dividend remains taxable even if it was automatically reinvested rather than paid to you in cash.

Each reinvestment also creates a new parcel of shares with its own:

acquisition date;
acquisition cost;
number of shares.

Keep all dividend reinvestment statements for the future CGT calculation.

Managed Funds, ETFs and Trusts

Managed funds, ETFs, REITs and unit trusts may distribute:

Australian interest;
franked and unfranked dividends;
capital gains;
foreign income;
foreign tax offsets;
tax-deferred amounts;
other trust income.

Please wait for the fund’s complete Annual Tax Statement or AMMA statement before lodging.

Do not rely only on:

cash distributions;
broker summaries;
ATO pre-fill;
bank deposits.

The annual statement may also contain upward or downward cost-base adjustments that must be retained for the eventual sale of the units.

What to provide

For each fund or ETF, provide:

Annual Tax Statement or AMMA statement;
purchase and sale contract notes;
distribution reinvestment records;
annual broker transaction report;
prior-year cost-base adjustment records.

Selling Shares, ETFs or Managed Fund Units

A CGT event generally occurs when you sell, redeem, transfer or otherwise dispose of shares or units.

For each parcel sold, provide:

purchase date;
purchase cost;
sale date;
sale proceeds;
brokerage and transaction fees;
dividend reinvestment records;
details of takeovers, demergers, consolidations or other corporate actions.

Where several parcels of the same investment were acquired at different times, we need to identify which parcel was sold. Do not assume the broker’s default cost-base method is automatically the most appropriate tax treatment.

Share-sale example

You purchased shares for A$12,000 and later sold them for A$17,000.

Brokerage was:

purchase brokerage: A$30;
sale brokerage: A$35.

Cost base: A$12,000 + A$30 = A$12,030

Capital proceeds after sale brokerage: A$17,000 − A$35 = A$16,965

Capital gain: A$16,965 − A$12,030 = A$4,935

If the shares were held for at least 12 months and all discount conditions are met, the discount capital gain may be: A$4,935 × 50% = A$2,467.50

Capital losses must be applied before calculating the final discounted net capital gain.

Cryptocurrency and Digital Assets

Crypto transactions can create both:

ordinary income; and
capital gains or capital losses.

A disposal can occur when you:

sell crypto for Australian dollars or foreign currency;
swap one crypto asset for another;
use crypto to buy goods or services;
gift or transfer beneficial ownership of crypto;
dispose of an NFT or another digital asset.

A crypto-to-crypto swap is still a disposal even though no Australian dollars were withdrawn.

Transfers between wallets or exchanges that you beneficially own are generally not disposals, but they must be correctly matched so the software does not treat them as missing sales.

Preferred crypto reporting method

Where you had more than a small number of transactions, our preferred approach is for you to prepare a complete tax report using:

Koinly;
Crypto Tax Calculator Australia; or
another suitable Australian crypto tax reporting platform.

Please ask us for our separate crypto-report email, which includes setup guidance and the optional Koinly refer-a-friend arrangement.

Reports Required

Please provide:

Capital gains report;
Income report;
Complete transaction report;
Full CSV export;
List of every exchange and wallet used;
Confirmation that all transfers, deposits, withdrawals and opening balances reconcile.

A summary showing only the net gain is not enough.

Crypto software results are only as reliable as the data imported. Missing exchanges, wallets or transaction histories can materially distort the calculated gain or loss.

Staking, rewards, airdrops and mining

Crypto received from staking or similar rewards may be ordinary income based on its Australian-dollar market value when received. That value generally becomes relevant to the cost base when the crypto is later disposed of.

Please provide details of:

staking rewards;
airdrops;
mining income;
referral rewards;
DeFi income;
liquidity pool transactions;
lending or crypto interest;
chain splits or forks.

The tax treatment varies according to the transaction and whether your activities are investment or business activities.

Crypto losses

A crypto capital loss cannot reduce salary or ordinary income.

It can generally be:

applied against other capital gains in FY2026; or
carried forward for use against future capital gains.

Lost or stolen crypto requires strong evidence that ownership has been permanently lost and there is no reasonable prospect of recovery.

Employee Share Schemes

If your employer provided shares, rights or options, please provide the Employee Share Scheme statement.

ESS amounts may be taxable:

when the interest is acquired;
at a deferred taxing point;
when restrictions cease;
when rights are exercised; or
under other specific ESS rules.

The ESS discount is generally dealt with separately from any later capital gain or loss on selling the shares.

Please also provide:

grant documents;
vesting statements;
exercise notices;
sale contract notes;
foreign employer statements;
details of tax withheld overseas.

Foreign Investments

Australian tax residents generally need to declare worldwide investment income.

This may include:

foreign dividends;
foreign interest;
foreign managed fund income;
foreign capital gains;
foreign crypto transactions;
foreign trust or company distributions.

Foreign income and CGT calculations must be converted into Australian dollars using an appropriate exchange rate.

Where foreign tax was paid, a foreign income tax offset may be available. Please provide the gross income and foreign tax withheld - not merely the net amount received.

Other Investments and Assets

Please advise us if you sold or received income from:

gold, silver or precious metals;
collectables;
artwork;
NFTs;
options or rights;
foreign currency;
private company shares;
crowdfunding investments;
investment bonds;
peer-to-peer lending;
parking spaces, vehicles or equipment rented through digital platforms.

Special exemptions or limitations can apply to personal-use assets and collectables, but investment assets should not be assumed to be exempt.

Records to Keep

Keep investment and CGT records for the entire period you own the asset and generally for at least five years after the relevant CGT event.

Records should include:

purchase and sale contract notes;
brokerage fees;
dividend statements;
DRP statements;
AMMA and annual tax statements;
corporate action notices;
foreign tax statements;
crypto reports and CSV files;
wallet and exchange histories;
legal and professional costs;
prior-year capital losses;
cost-base adjustment records.

Do not discard purchase records merely because the investment was acquired more than five years ago.

ATO Data Matching

The ATO receives investment information from sources including:

share registries;
managed funds;
financial institutions;
employers;
foreign tax authorities;
crypto exchanges;
digital platforms.

Pre-fill information must be checked against your own records. It may be delayed, incomplete or missing cost-base information.

What to Bring to Your Tax Appointment