CGT Calculator Australia 2025-26
Calculate your Australian capital gains tax (CGT) liability for 2025-26. Enter your purchase and sale details, incidental costs, and other income to see your gross gain, whether the 50% CGT discount applies, your marginal tax rate, and estimated CGT payable. All calculations run privately in your browser using the ATO's 2025-26 tax brackets.
How the ATO Calculates Capital Gains Tax
Capital gains tax in Australia is not a standalone tax. It is part of the income tax system under the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997. When you sell a capital asset such as an investment property, shares, or cryptocurrency, the profit (capital gain) is added to your other income for the year and taxed at your marginal rate. The ATO requires you to report all CGT events in your annual income tax return for the financial year in which the sale contract is signed — not the settlement date.
The gross capital gain is calculated as the sale price minus the cost base. The cost base includes the original purchase price, incidental costs at acquisition (stamp duty, legal fees, conveyancing), any capital improvements made during ownership, and incidental costs at disposal (agent commission, advertising, legal fees). Ongoing expenses such as rates, interest, insurance, and repairs are not part of the cost base for residential property investors.
ATO CGT Formula for 2025-26
Gross Capital Gain = Sale Price − Purchase Price − Purchase Costs − Capital Improvements − Sale Costs
Discounted Gain = Gross Capital Gain × 50% (individuals / trusts, held 12+ months)
Total Taxable Income = Other Income + Discounted Capital Gain
Marginal Tax Rate = ATO bracket for Total Taxable Income (including 2% Medicare Levy)
CGT Payable = Discounted Gain × Marginal Rate
Net Proceeds = Sale Price − Sale Costs − CGT Payable
The 50% CGT Discount: Who Qualifies and How It Works
The 50% CGT discount is one of the most significant tax concessions available to Australian investors. It was introduced on 21 September 1999 and replaced the indexation method for assets acquired after that date. The discount is available to individuals, trusts, and (since 2012) complying superannuation funds under modified rules. Companies do not qualify.
To qualify for the discount, you must have held the asset for more than 12 months before the CGT event occurs. The 12-month holding period is measured from the date you acquired the asset to the date you signed the contract to sell it. For shares, this is the trade date. For property, this is the contract exchange date, not settlement. If you inherited an asset, the deceased's holding period is added to your own. If you received an asset in a relationship breakdown rollover, the original acquisition date is also preserved.
The practical effect of the discount is to halve the amount of the gain that is included in your taxable income. For an individual on a 34.5% marginal rate (including Medicare levy), the effective CGT rate on a long-term investment gain is only 17.25%. On the top marginal rate of 47%, the effective long-term CGT rate is 23.5%. This makes holding investments for longer than 12 months significantly more tax-efficient in Australia.
For SMSFs in accumulation phase, the discount is one-third instead of one-half, resulting in two-thirds of the gain being included in the fund's assessable income. Combined with the 15% fund tax rate, the effective CGT rate for an SMSF on a long-term gain is 10%. In retirement (pension) phase, the rate drops to zero as fund income is tax-exempt.
Property, Shares, and Crypto: CGT Rules for Each Asset
Investment property is the most common CGT asset for Australian taxpayers. When you sell an investment property held for more than 12 months, the 50% discount applies. The cost base includes the original purchase price, stamp duty, legal and conveyancing fees, and any capital improvements (major renovations, extensions, structural work). Ongoing deductions such as interest, rates, and depreciation do not reduce the cost base but may have already been deducted as rental expenses. If the property was ever your main residence, a partial exemption may apply under the main residence exemption rules.
For shares in listed companies, the CGT rules are straightforward. Each parcel of shares you purchase has its own acquisition date and cost base (including brokerage). When you sell, the gain is calculated per parcel. You can use the first-in-first-out method or a specific identification method to match shares sold with parcels purchased. Dividend reinvestment plan (DRP) shares each have their own separate cost base equal to the DRP price and their own 12-month clock. Bonus shares issued from a share capital account have a nil cost base.
Cryptocurrency is treated by the ATO as a capital asset, not as currency. Every disposal — selling crypto for AUD, swapping one cryptocurrency for another, or using crypto to purchase goods or services — is a CGT event. The cost base of crypto is the AUD value you paid or the market value in AUD at acquisition, plus transaction fees. The ATO receives data directly from Australian crypto exchanges and uses sophisticated data matching to cross-check declared gains. The 50% discount applies if you held the specific crypto asset for more than 12 months before disposal.
2025-26 Australian Tax Brackets and Effective CGT Rates
The marginal tax rate applied to your capital gain depends on your total taxable income in the financial year the CGT event occurred. The capital gain is stacked on top of your other income, and the rate applied is determined by which bracket the gain falls into. For 2025-26, the individual tax brackets including the 2% Medicare levy are: 0% up to $18,200; 21% from $18,201 to $45,000 (19% tax + 2% Medicare); 34.5% from $45,001 to $120,000; 39% from $120,001 to $180,000; and 47% above $180,000.
The effective CGT rate after the 50% discount for each bracket is therefore 0%, 10.5%, 17.25%, 19.5%, and 23.5% respectively. For most middle-income Australian investors, the long-term capital gains rate is around 17.25%, making property and share investments significantly more tax-efficient over the long term compared to short-term trading, where the full marginal rate applies.