Free tool
Capital gains tax calculator Australia (2025-26)
This CGT calculator estimates your Australian capital gains tax: it takes your sale price minus your cost base, applies the 50% discount if you've held the asset more than 12 months, adds the taxable gain to your income and shows the extra tax at your marginal rate, because Australia has no separate CGT rate.
Your disposal
Rates used: resident individual brackets for 2025-26 plus the 2% Medicare levy. Updated each 1 July.
Estimated CGT
$2,880
Extra tax on a taxable gain of $9,000
Held 1,096 days. The 50% CGT discount has been applied.
Estimates only. This calculator uses the figures you enter and the published 2025-26 resident rates. It does not apply the main residence exemption, small business CGT concessions, pre-CGT asset rules, partial exemptions or trust and company rates. It is general information, not personal tax advice.
How capital gains tax is calculated in Australia
CGT isn't a separate tax with its own rate. The taxable part of your gain is added to your income and taxed at your marginal rate. Five steps:
- Capital proceeds - what you sold the asset for.
- Minus cost base - purchase price plus buying and selling costs (brokerage, stamp duty, legal fees) plus ownership costs not otherwise claimed.
- Apply capital losses - this year's and carried-forward losses offset gains first.
- Apply the 50% CGT discount - individuals and trusts holding the asset more than 12 months halve the remaining gain. Companies get no discount, and super funds get one third.
- Add to taxable income - the discounted gain is taxed at your marginal rate, up to 47% including the Medicare levy.
The formula
Taxable gain = (proceeds - cost base - losses) x 50% if held more than 12 months, then taxed at your marginal rate.
Worked example
Sarah earns $95,000 and sells shares for $40,000 that cost $22,000 including brokerage three years ago.
| Capital gain ($40,000 less $22,000) | $18,000 |
| 50% discount (held more than 12 months) | $9,000 taxable |
| Added to income | $95,000 to $104,000 |
| Marginal rate on the gain (32% incl. Medicare levy) | About $2,880 |
32% is the $45,001 to $135,000 bracket for 2025-26 (30% plus the 2% Medicare levy). A gain big enough to cross a bracket threshold is taxed progressively across both brackets, and the calculator handles the split automatically.
What this calculator handles
- Shares and ETFs, including partial parcels and reinvested dividends in the cost base.
- Crypto - every disposal, including selling, swapping coin to coin and spending, is a CGT event.
- Investment property, with a prompt for building depreciation claimed, which reduces your cost base.
- Held under or over 12 months - the discount cliff. Selling at 11 months can literally double the tax compared with waiting to month 13.
- Capital losses, current year and carried forward. Losses never expire, but must be used against the first available gains before the discount is applied, and the calculator gets that order right.
What it can't decide for you
- Main residence exemption - your home is generally CGT-free, with 6-year absence rules and partial exemptions where it produced income.
- Foreign and temporary residents - no 50% discount on gains accrued after 8 May 2012, and main residence rules differ sharply.
- Small business CGT concessions - these can reduce business-asset gains to zero, and they are specialist territory.
- Pre-20 September 1985 assets - pre-CGT and generally exempt.
If any of these apply, use the calculator for a ballpark and get advice before lodging.
CGT and your tax return
Gains go at label 18 of your individual return in the year the contract was signed, not settlement, which catches property sellers out every June. Under-reporting is the fast lane to an amended assessment plus shortfall interest, and assets sold in years you never lodged is a compounding problem, so catch up here. Already lodged and forgot a disposal? Amend the return before the ATO's data-matching finds it, because share registries and crypto exchanges report directly to the ATO.
Frequently asked questions
How is capital gains tax calculated in Australia?
Sale proceeds minus cost base, minus capital losses, halved if held more than 12 months (individuals), then added to your income and taxed at your marginal rate.
What is the CGT rate in Australia?
There isn't one. The taxable gain is taxed at your marginal income rate, 0% to 47% including the Medicare levy. With the 50% discount, the effective top rate on a long-held gain is 23.5%.
Do I pay CGT if I've held shares for more than 12 months?
Yes, but only on half the gain. The 50% discount applies to assets held more than 12 months.
Does the calculator work for crypto?
Yes. Crypto is a CGT asset. Selling, swapping between coins and spending crypto are all disposals, and the same cost base and discount rules apply.
When do I pay capital gains tax?
Through your tax return for the financial year the sale contract was signed. There's no separate payment at sale time.
Can capital losses reduce my CGT?
Yes. Losses offset gains before the discount is applied, and unused losses carry forward indefinitely. They can't offset salary income.
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