Capital Gains Tax on Shares, Crypto & Property (2025-26)

What is capital gains tax — and is it a separate tax?

No, it is not a separate tax. Capital gains tax (CGT) is simply income tax applied to the profit you make when you dispose of an asset — usually by selling it. The capital gain is added to your other income for the year and taxed at your normal marginal rate. There is no separate CGT return and no separate CGT rate.

A CGT event is the trigger. The most common is selling, but giving an asset away, swapping it, or otherwise disposing of it can also count.

How to calculate a capital gain

The basic formula is:

Capital gain = sale proceeds − cost base

Your cost base is more than just the purchase price. It includes what you paid for the asset plus associated costs such as brokerage, stamp duty, legal fees and certain ownership costs. Getting the cost base right is where most people save (or lose) money, so keep your records.

The 50% CGT discount

This is the big one. If you are an individual and you held the asset for more than 12 months before the CGT event, only half the gain is taxed. Sell within 12 months and the full gain is taxed.

The lesson: the 12-month mark can literally halve your tax. It is often worth knowing how long you have held an asset before you sell.

Using capital losses

Not every sale is a profit. A capital loss happens when you sell for less than the cost base. Losses are useful:

• They offset capital gains in the same year.
• Any unused loss carries forward indefinitely to future years.
• You apply losses before the 50% discount, which produces the best outcome for you.

One catch: capital losses can only offset capital gains — not your salary or other income. So a loss on shares cannot reduce the tax on your wages, but it can wipe out a gain on another parcel.

Crypto is a CGT asset

The ATO treats cryptocurrency as property, not as money. That means a CGT event happens far more often than people expect. Each of these is a disposal that can create a gain or loss:

• Selling crypto for Australian dollars
• Swapping one coin for another (e.g. Bitcoin to Ethereum) — yes, even without cashing out
• Using crypto to buy goods or services
• Gifting crypto to someone else

The same 12-month 50% discount applies if you held the coin for over a year. The ATO data-matches with Australian exchanges, so it often already has your transaction history — declaring accurately matters.

Property and the main residence exemption

Your main residence — the home you actually live in — is generally exempt from CGT, provided it was genuinely your home and not used to produce income. Investment properties, holiday homes, and homes you rented out can be subject to CGT on the gain, often apportioned for the period they were income-producing. For property, the CGT event is dated to when you sign the contract of sale, not settlement.

When and how you pay

There is no separate CGT bill. The taxable gain (after discount and losses) goes on your tax return for the year of the CGT event and is settled as part of your overall income tax assessment. Because no tax is withheld on a capital gain during the year, a big sale can create a sizeable tax bill — so set money aside when you realise a large gain.