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Australia-wide · Capital gains tax

Capital gains tax calculator

Selling an investment property or another asset? This CGT calculator builds your cost base, applies the 50% discount, and works out the extra tax it adds at your FY 2026–27 marginal rates — bracket by bracket, for a single Australian resident.

FY 2026-27 rates · verified

Rates verified against the official sources — how we check.

Did you live in it before renting it out?

Lived in it for part of the ownership? That share of the gain is exempt (partial main-residence exemption). Leave both at 0 for a pure investment.The quick estimate apportions in whole years, where the law works in days — and it ignores two rules that routinely change the answer by tens of thousands: the six-year absence rule, and the market-value reset that applies when a home first starts earning rent. If you lived in it before renting it out, switch to exact dates below and both are applied properly. Formal elections, renting out only part of the floor area, moving back in more than once, inherited homes and foreign residency at sale are still not modelled — with any of those, check with a registered tax agent.

Buying costs = stamp duty, legals, inspections. Selling costs = agent fees, legals. Losses = this year plus carried-forward. Improvements = renovations and additions (not repairs). Capital works = Division 43 deductions you claimed (or could claim) — the ATO requires these come OFF the cost base.

Your tally

Cost base$640,000
Gross capital gain$240,000
50% discount−$120,000
Net gain added to income$120,000
CGT payable$46,750

After tax you keep $193,250 of the gain — an effective 19.5% tax on it.

From sale price to tax bill

Who this models: Single Australian resident for tax purposes, no other offsets. Family and senior Medicare thresholds, SAPTO and the Medicare levy surcharge are not modelled.

For Australian-resident individuals. The main-residence split is worked in years (the ATO uses days) and assumes no six-year absence rule — offsets and edge cases are yours to confirm with the ATO or your accountant.

How capital gains tax works — no separate rate

Australia doesn't have a CGT rate. Instead, your net capital gain is added to your taxable income and taxed at ordinary marginal rates — which is why the same gain costs a nurse and a surgeon different amounts, and why this capital gains tax calculator asks for your income. Three steps:

  1. Cost base — purchase price + stamp duty and buying legals + capital improvements.
  2. Gain — sale price − selling costs − cost base. Held 12+ months as an individual? Halve it.
  3. Tax — the extra tax (and Medicare levy) caused by adding that net gain to your income for the year.

CGT on a $50,000 to $500,000 gain — quick answers

For someone earning $100,000, computed by the same tested engine (FY 2026–27 rates + Medicare levy):

CGT on a $50,000 to $500,000 gain — quick answers
Gross capital gainHeld 12+ monthsHeld under 12 months
$50,000$8,000$17,050
$100,000$17,050$37,350
$200,000$37,350$84,350
$300,000$60,850$131,350
$500,000$107,850$225,350

The 12-month column is roughly half the other — that's the 50% discount doing its work, and why contract timing matters near your first anniversary of ownership.

The cost base checklist — where people overpay

The ATO lets you count far more than the purchase price, and every dollar you can prove shrinks the gain. In the cost base: the purchase price; stamp duty and transfer costs; legal and conveyancing fees on both purchase and sale; buyer's agent and building/pest inspection fees; agent's commission when selling; capital improvements — renovations, extensions, a new kitchen; and for income-producing property, ownership costs like rates and interest only for periods the property wasn't producing income and wasn't otherwise deducted. Not in the cost base: repairs and maintenance you already claimed as deductions, loan principal, and any depreciation you claimed — claimed depreciation actually reduces the cost base, which surprises many sellers. Keep every receipt from day one; reconstructing a cost base years later is where money is lost.

Timing quirks worth knowing

CGT is triggered by the contract date, not settlement — sign on 25 June and the gain lands in this financial year even if settlement is August. Selling across the new year at a lower income (a career break, retirement, parental leave) can genuinely change the bill, because the gain stacks on top of that year's income. And if the property was once your home, the six-year rule may exempt some or all of the gain after you moved out and rented it — a detail worth a conversation with your accountant before you sell, not after.

The discount's last years — CGT changes from 1 July 2027

The 50% discount is being replaced by inflation indexation.

Under the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Act 2026 (assented 26 June 2026), gains made by resident individuals and trusts from 1 July 2027 no longer get the 50% discount — except on certain assets such as brand-new residential dwellings. Instead, the asset's cost base is indexed by CPI, so only the real, above-inflation gain is taxed. Contract dates up to 30 June 2027 stay under today's rules, which is what this calculator computes — and it's why contract timing around mid-2027 will matter enormously: a long-held asset with modest growth may do better under indexation, while a fast-rising one loses badly without the discount. We'll add the post-2027 indexation mode as soon as the ATO publishes the implementation detail (the second tranche of the legislation is in consultation now).

Worked example

Investment unit sold after six years. Bought $600,000 + $25,000 stamp duty and legals + $15,000 of renovations → cost base $640,000. Sold $900,000 −$20,000 agent and legals → proceeds $880,000. Gross gain $240,000, halved to $120,000, added to a $100,000 salary → $46,750 in CGT — leaving $193,250 of the gain after tax.

Bought the property recently? The duty you paid is part of your future cost base — the QLD stamp duty calculator shows it, and the land tax calculator covers the annual holding cost.

Frequently asked questions

How is capital gains tax calculated in Australia?
There is no separate CGT rate. You work out the capital gain (sale proceeds minus your cost base), halve it if you've held the asset over 12 months as an individual, then add that net gain to your taxable income — it's taxed at your marginal rates. This calculator does the exact bracket maths for FY 2026–27, including the Medicare levy.
What is a net capital gain?
Your gross capital gain, minus any capital losses you're applying, minus the CGT discount you're entitled to. The net figure is what lands in your taxable income.
What is included in the cost base?
More than the purchase price: add stamp duty and legals when you bought, capital improvements while you owned (renovations, not repairs), and selling costs like agent fees reduce your proceeds. Missing these is the most common way people overpay CGT.
When do you pay capital gains tax?
In your tax return for the financial year in which you signed the sale contract (not settlement day). There's no separate bill at sale time — the gain simply increases that year's tax.
Do I pay CGT on my own home?
Usually no — your principal place of residence is generally exempt. CGT mainly applies to investment properties, holiday homes, shares and other assets. Renting out your former home changes the picture, so check the ATO rules for partial exemptions.
How can I reduce capital gains tax?
The levers that exist under the rules: the 50% discount needs 12 months of ownership; a fully documented cost base shrinks the gain; capital losses (including carried-forward ones) offset gains; and because CGT follows the contract date, the same gain lands differently in different income years. Which suit your situation is a conversation for your accountant.
Is the 50% CGT discount being abolished?
For most assets, yes — from 1 July 2027. The Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Act 2026 replaces the 50% discount for resident individuals and trusts with CPI indexation of the cost base, so only the above-inflation part of the gain is taxed. Brand-new residential dwellings keep the discount, and further exceptions are under consultation. Contracts dated up to 30 June 2027 use today's rules — the ones this calculator applies.

Keep tallying

Australia

Negative gearing calculator

What the property really costs (or makes) each week while you hold it.

Open calculator →

Queensland

Land tax calculator QLD

The annual state tax on your investment landholdings.

Open calculator →

Before you sell

Quantity surveyor cost

Capital works claimed reduce the cost base — the other end of the deduction.

Open calculator →

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Sources

Rates are FY 2026-27 as legislated, with one exception: the Medicare levy low-income thresholds are the 2025-26 figures carried forward, because they are legislated retrospectively each Budget. They only affect results at low incomes, and we update them when the Budget lands.

Rates last verified 2026-08-27 for FY 2026-27. General information only — not financial or tax advice.