Working out your capital gain/loss
As part of doing your tax for a year, you need to work out your capital gain or capital loss from every CGT event that happened to your assets that year. If you have both capital gains and capital losses, you also have to work out your net capital gain/loss.
If you have a distribution from a managed fund, the fund has already worked out your capital gain or capital loss and should have given you the information on a distribution statement.
Working out your capital gain
For most CGT events, your capital gain is the difference between your capital proceeds and the cost base of your CGT asset - that is, where you receive more for an asset than it cost you. (The cost base of a CGT asset is largely what you paid for it, together with some other costs associated with acquiring, holding and disposing of it.)
If you own an asset for 12 months before you dispose of it, you may be able to reduce the amount of your capital gain.
Working out your capital loss
If you haven't made a capital gain, you will need to work out the asset's 'reduced cost base' before you can work out whether you've made a capital loss. Generally, you make a capital loss if your reduced cost base is greater than your capital proceeds.
Working out your net capital gain/loss
Once you have your capital gains and capital losses, you need to work out your net capital gain or net capital loss for the year. This is the amount that goes on your income tax return.
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If you include an amount that arose from a CGT event somewhere in your assessable income on your tax return, you do not also include it as a capital gain. For example, if you make a profit on the sale of land and you include in your assessable income as ordinary income, you don't also include that profit as a capital gain.
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Sections within Working out your capital gain/loss
Last Modified: Wednesday, 30 January 2013