Learn more about how the Capital Gains Tax Calculator works

• How to use the Capital Gains Tax calculator
• Capital Gains Tax Example Calculation
• Capital Gains Tax Calculator FAQs

How to use the Capital Gains Tax calculator

To use the Capital Gains Tax calculator, you’ll need to enter some details about your asset. These are explained below:

• Purchase Price - How much you purchased the asset for.
  
• Length of Ownership - Whether you have owned the asset for less than 12 months or longer than 12 months.
  
• Sold Price - How much you have sold the asset for.
  
• Current Taxable Income - Your current taxable income. This will help determine the tax rate at which the capital gain on your asset will be taxed. It's important to note that any capital gains amount will be added to your current income before calculating the tax rate - i.e. a capital gains amount could force you into a higher tax bracket.
  
• Total Costs of Purchasing, Owning and Selling the Asset - This is the amount you have personally invested into the asset before sale. For example, if your asset is a property, this may include marketing for sale or renovations, which will be used to calculate your final capital gains amount.
  

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.

Capital Gains Tax Example Calculation

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.

If you hold the shares for less than 12 months

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:

• Your salary is $100,000 per year
• Your income tax bracket is 37% - ($90,001 – $180,000)
• You make a $10,000 capital gain on shares you own for less than 12 months
• You sell the shares and 100% of the $10,000 capital gain is taxed at 37%
• You will pay a CGT amount of $3,700 on the shares
• You are left with $6,300 from the capital gain on your shares

If you hold the shares for more than 12 months

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:

• You salary is $100,000 per year
• Your income tax bracket is 37% - ($90,001 – $180,000)
• You make a $10,000 capital gain on shares you own for more than 12 months
• You sell the shares and 50% of the $10,000 capital gain is taxed at 37%
• You will pay a CGT amount of $1,850 on the shares
• You are left with $8,150 from the capital gain on your shares

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.

Other Money.com.au Calculators

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.