To use the Capital Gains Tax calculator, you’ll need to enter some details about your asset. These are explained below:
Once you have entered the details about the asset and your income, you can click Calculate to see how much you will need to pay in Capital Gains Tax.
For this example we’ll look at how Capital Gains Tax works if you own shares. You’ve bought shares and have they have increased in value. You are now selling your shares and need to calculate your CGT. Capital Gains Tax is calculated at either 100% of the capital gains amount or 50% of the capital gains amount, depending on the length of time you have owned the asset.
You will pay tax on the full amount of profit. This is the amount you have made on top of your initial investment (earnings). Every dollar you have made in earnings will be taxed at your individual income tax rate.
For example:
If you own the shares for longer than 12 months, the ATO (Australian Tax Office) gives you a 50% discount on your capital gains tax. This means that you only pay tax on 50% of your earnings from the asset.
For example:
If you want to quickly calculate the amount of tax you’ll have to pay any asset, you can use our free Capital Gains Tax calculator.
Annual Salary | $100,000 |
Length of share ownership | More than 12 months |
Capital gain on shares sold | $10,000 |
CGT on sale | $1,850 |
Calculated your Capital Gains Tax and want to work out other finance calculations? We have a range of Money.com.au calculators for almost any situation — you can visit our dedicated page to view the full list of financial calculators. You can use these calculators to estimate your tax return, car loan repayments, compound interest, and much more.
A capital gain or loss is the amount of money you make or lose on the sale of an asset. The capital difference is how much you purchase the asset for versus how much you sell it for.
The amount of CGT you will pay on your shares can vary depending on how long you have held the investment. If you own the asset for less than 12 months, you will have to pay 100% of the capital gain at your income tax rate. If you own the asset for longer than 12 months, you will pay 50% of the capital gain. Capital gains are taxed at the same rate as taxable income — i.e. if you earn $40,000 (32.5% tax bracket) per year and make a capital gain of $60,000, you will pay income tax for $100,000 (37% income tax) and your capital gains will be taxed at 37%.
The quickest way to determine if you need to pay CGT on your shares is to see if your shares have made money over the time since you bought them. If you are selling shares at a price below what you paid for them, you have made a loss and you do not need to worry about capital gains tax. If the price of your shares has risen since buying and you are now selling; you will have to pay CGT.
Any asset you have purchased or acquired since Capital Gains Tax was first introduced (20 September 1985) will be subject to Capital Gains Tax, with some exceptions for personal-use assets such as the family home or your personal vehicle:
CGT assets | CGT-exempt assets |
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