Capital Gains Tax Calculator

An estimate, not tax advice. This calculation is for an Australian resident for tax purposes for the whole of the 2026–27 income year (1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027), or 2025–26 if you choose it, investing in their own name. Australia has no separate capital gains tax: your net capital gain is added to your taxable income and taxed at your marginal rate, plus the Medicare levy. The rules modelled here cover any sale up to 30 June 2027, because a law passed in June 2026 changes them for gains that build up from 1 July 2027. Check with a registered tax agent before you lodge.

What is an Australian capital gains tax calculator?

An Australian capital gains tax calculator, or CGT calculator, is a tool that works out the extra income tax and Medicare levy that a capital gain adds to your tax bill, using the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) rules for the 2026–27 income year. It measures the gain on a sale of shares or ETFs as your capital proceeds less your cost base, takes off your capital losses, applies the 50% CGT discount when you qualify for it, and prices what is left at your marginal rate.

The name misleads anyone who arrives from American content. In Australia, capital gains tax is not a separate tax with its own rate: CGT is the part of the income tax law that decides how much of a gain counts as income. Your net capital gain for the year is added to your taxable income and taxed together with your salary at the resident tax rates, from nil on the first $18,200 to 45% above $190,000, plus the 2% Medicare levy. There are no short-term and long-term rates and there is no state income tax. There is only a gain that gets the discount and a gain that does not.

The calculator takes six visible inputs, “Other taxable income”, “Sale proceeds”, “Cost base”, “Selling costs”, “Held 12 months or more” and “Capital losses”, and one advanced field, “Income year”. It returns “Tax on this gain” as the headline figure, then “Income tax” and “Medicare levy” separately, “Net capital gain”, “Effective rate”, “After-tax gain” and, when the discount applies, “The CGT discount saves you”. A sale at a loss shows “Capital loss to carry forward” instead, and “Capital losses left” appears whenever part of your losses is not used. The tool prices one sale at a time, of shares or ETFs held in your own name.

Why is the capital gains tax calculator important for investors in Australia?

The capital gains tax calculator is important for Australian investors because the tax on a gain depends on three things that no single rate can capture: your other income, how long you held the asset and where the gain lands in the tax brackets. The same $10,000 gain on a $90,000 salary costs $1,600 when the discount applies and $3,200 when it does not.

The holding period is usually the decision that is still open. The 50% discount turns on the contract date, and one day can be worth thousands of dollars: for someone earning $130,000, a $20,000 gain costs $3,550 after 12 months and $7,450 if the shares are sold one day too early, a difference of $3,900.

Low incomes are where simple calculators go furthest wrong. A student with $15,000 of other income and a $30,000 gain pays $1,268.90, not the $2,550 that a bracket rate plus a full 2% levy would suggest, because the low income tax offset and the reduced Medicare levy both apply. The tool works through both, which a flat percentage cannot.

Use the calculator before you place the sell order: when you are deciding whether to wait for the 12-month mark, when you have capital losses to use, when you want to see how much of the gain stays with you, and when you are weighing a sale in 2026–27 against the reform that starts on 1 July 2027. Tax is the last slice of a return, so the figure belongs in the decision about how to invest, not only in the tax return that follows it.

How do you use the Australian capital gains tax calculator?

To use the Australian capital gains tax calculator, enter your other taxable income, the sale proceeds, the cost base of the parcel you sold, your selling costs and capital losses, and say whether you held it 12 months or more; press Calculate and the tool returns the tax on the gain, split into income tax and Medicare levy.

The steps to use the Australian capital gains tax calculator are listed below:

1. Enter your other taxable income. This is your 2026–27 taxable income without this sale: salary and other income, already after deductions. That includes the work-related standard deduction of up to $1,000, which applies automatically from 2026–27 if you have labour income and is reduced by any work-related expenses you claim. This figure decides your marginal rate.
2. Enter the sale proceeds. This is what you received from the sale, the capital proceeds, in Australian dollars.
3. Enter the cost base. This is the price you paid for the parcel you sold, plus the brokerage on the purchase. Each parcel is a separate asset: if you cannot identify which parcel you sold, the ATO accepts first in, first out, and an average cost is allowed only for identical shares bought on the same day.
4. Enter your selling costs. Brokerage and the other costs of the sale. The ATO counts them in the cost base; the calculator keeps them in their own field for convenience, and the result is the same.
5. Choose whether you held it 12 months or more. Select “Yes” if the sale contract falls at least 12 months after the purchase, counting neither the day you bought nor the day you sold. Shares bought on 15 March 2026 qualify from a sale on 16 March 2027. The contract date counts, not the settlement date.
6. Enter your capital losses. These are losses on other assets in this income year, plus any net capital losses from earlier years that you have not used yet.

The advanced field “Income year” switches between “2026–27”, the default, and “2025–26”, for anyone still lodging a 2026 return. Only the rate of the second bracket, 16% instead of 15%, and the fixed amounts of the brackets above it change between the two years: the low income tax offset and the Medicare levy thresholds are the same. Amounts go in as whole dollars, since the ATO ignores cents on the return, and every amount must already be in Australian dollars. Each press of Calculate refreshes every row together, so two sale dates or two parcels of the same stock can be compared before you sell.

What formula does the Australian capital gains tax calculator use?

The Australian capital gains tax calculator uses a two-step formula: it first turns the sale into a net capital gain, taking off capital losses before the 50% discount, then prices that gain incrementally, as the tax on your income with the gain minus the tax on your income without it.

In these formulas, the discount factor is 50% when you held the asset 12 months or more and 100% otherwise; Capital losses reduce the gain down to zero at most, and whatever is left over shows as “Capital losses left”; if the sale itself makes a loss, there is no tax and the loss is carried forward. Income tax is the resident tax table of the year you chose, shown below. LITO is the low income tax offset, worth up to $700, which can reduce income tax to zero but never reduces the Medicare levy. The Medicare levy is nil up to $28,011 of taxable income and above that is the lower of 2% of your taxable income and 10% of the part over $28,011; the 2026–27 threshold has not been set yet, so the calculator uses the 2025–26 figure.

For example, a $10,000 gain held more than 12 months on $90,000 of other income becomes a $5,000 net capital gain, which adds $1,500 of income tax and $100 of Medicare levy, so the tax on this gain is $1,600.

The formula prices one sale by one resident in one income year: it stops at 30 June 2027 and treats every amount as already converted into Australian dollars.

What is an example of a capital gains tax calculation?

An example of a capital gains tax calculation is an investor earning $90,000 who sells shares for $30,000 that cost $20,000, after holding them for more than 12 months, with no selling costs and no capital losses, which produces $1,600 of tax on the gain, worked out as follows:

1. Work out the gain. $30,000 less $20,000 = $10,000.
2. Take off capital losses. There are none, so the whole $10,000 remains.
3. Apply the CGT discount. The shares were held 12 months or more, so half the gain is taxed: the net capital gain is $5,000.
4. Add it to your income. Taxable income rises from $90,000 to $95,000, which stays inside the 30% bracket.
5. Price the income tax. Income tax on $95,000 is $4,020 plus 30% of $50,000, or $19,020; on $90,000 it is $4,020 plus 30% of $45,000, or $17,520. The difference is $1,500, and the low income tax offset is nil at both levels.
6. Add the Medicare levy. 2% of $95,000 is $1,900 and 2% of $90,000 is $1,800, so the levy caused by the gain is $100.
7. Read the result. Tax on this gain is $1,600, an effective rate of 16.00% of the $10,000 gain, which leaves an after-tax gain of $8,400.

Without the discount the whole $10,000 would be taxed: $3,000 of income tax plus $200 of levy, or $3,200. That is why “The CGT discount saves you” reads $1,600 here. These are the calculator’s starting values, so pressing Calculate without changing anything reproduces this example.

How do you read the Australian capital gains tax calculator’s result?

You read the Australian capital gains tax calculator’s result by starting from “Tax on this gain”, the extra tax the sale adds to your year, then checking how it splits between “Income tax” and “Medicare levy” and comparing “Effective rate” with your marginal rate. “Net capital gain” is the amount that enters your taxable income, and “After-tax gain” is the money the sale actually leaves you with.

“Effective rate” divides the tax by the whole gain, before losses and before the discount, so it is the share of your profit that goes in tax. On a gain held for 12 months that stays inside one bracket it is about half your marginal rate plus the levy: 16.00% in the example above, where the next dollar of salary is taxed at 30% plus 2%. Amounts are shown to the cent and percentages to two decimals, rounded half up; the calculation itself runs at full precision.

A sale at a loss shows no tax at all. Shares bought for $20,000 and sold for $12,000, with $1,000 of other capital losses, make a loss of $8,000, so the tax is $0.00 and “Capital loss to carry forward” reads $9,000: the $8,000 loss plus the $1,000 you already had. The discount never applies to a loss. A net capital loss carries forward with no time limit, but it can only be used against future capital gains: never against salary or other income, and never carried back to an earlier year.

When you lodge, capital gains go at item 18, Capital gains, in the supplementary section of the individual tax return, whether you use myTax or a registered tax agent.

How does the 50% CGT discount change the capital gains tax calculation?

The 50% CGT discount changes the capital gains tax calculation by halving the gain that enters your taxable income, as long as you are an Australian resident and have held the asset for at least 12 months. It is usually the largest single number in the result, and it depends on a date you can still choose before you sell.

The 12 months are counted without the day you acquired the asset and without the day of the CGT event, which is the contract date of the sale, not the settlement date. The ATO’s own example: shares bought on 2 February qualify for the discount if the sale falls on 3 February of the following year or later. The calculator does not count dates for you; it asks a yes or no question in “Held 12 months or more”, so the date check is yours.

The example below shows what one day can be worth when the gain crosses a bracket. Take $130,000 of other income and a sale for $70,000 of shares that cost $50,000:

With the discount, taxable income rises from $130,000 to $140,000: $5,000 is taxed at 30% and $5,000 at 37%, and the after-tax gain is $16,450. Without it, the whole $20,000 lands on top of the salary and reaches $150,000. The extra day is worth $3,900.

The order of the steps matters too. Capital losses are taken off the gain before the discount, never after. In the ATO’s example a $70,000 gain with $4,500 of losses becomes $65,500, and half of that, $32,750, is the net capital gain. On $100,000 of other income it all falls in the 30% bracket, so the calculator shows $9,825 of income tax and $655 of levy, a tax of $10,480, an effective rate of 14.97% and an after-tax gain of $59,520, with no capital losses left. Discounting first and subtracting the losses afterwards would give $35,000 less $4,500, or $30,500, and a tax of $9,760: $720 less than is actually due. When you have several gains, the ATO lets you choose which ones your losses reduce, starting with those that get no discount; with one gain, as here, the choice does not arise.

The discount belongs to residents. Non-residents have not had it since 8 May 2012, and they are outside this calculator.

How do the low income tax offset and the Medicare levy change a capital gains tax calculation on a low income?

The low income tax offset and the Medicare levy change a capital gains tax calculation on a low income because both shrink or disappear as income rises, so a gain can cost far less than its bracket suggests, and part of what it costs comes from losing them. The calculator handles both by pricing your income with and without the gain, which brings these effects in automatically.

Three thresholds work together. The first $18,200 of taxable income is tax-free. The low income tax offset (LITO) is a non-refundable reduction of income tax that the ATO applies on these terms in both years:

The offset reduces only income tax, and only down to zero; it never reduces the Medicare levy. In practice nobody pays income tax in 2026–27 on taxable income up to $22,866.67, or $22,575 in 2025–26. The Medicare levy is nil up to $28,011 for a single person, then rises at 10% of the part over $28,011 until it reaches the full 2% of taxable income at $35,013.

Here is how that plays out for a student with $15,000 of other income who sold shares held more than 12 months:

• A $10,000 gain. The net capital gain is $5,000 and taxable income reaches $20,000. Income tax of $270 is wiped out by the $700 offset, and $20,000 is below the levy threshold, so the tax on this gain is $0.00.
• A $30,000 gain. The net capital gain is $15,000 and taxable income reaches $30,000. Income tax is $1,770 less the $700 offset, or $1,070. The levy is the lower of 2% of $30,000, which is $600, and 10% of the part above $28,011, which is $198.90. The tax on this gain is $1,268.90, an effective rate of 4.23%.

A calculator that applied the bracket rate plus a full 2% levy to the $15,000 of net capital gain, 17% in all, would show $2,550: double the real figure.

Just above these thresholds the effect runs the other way, and the gain costs more than its bracket suggests. Take $30,000 of other income and a $10,000 gain on shares held less than 12 months, so the whole gain is taxed and income rises to $40,000:

The $100 difference between the two years is exactly one percentage point on $10,000, the cut from 16% to 15% in the second bracket. In 2026–27 the income tax is $1,500 of tax at 15% plus $125 of offset lost, because the offset falls from $700 to $575 as income passes $37,500. The levy takes 6% of the gain, not 2%, because the income crosses the reduced band where the levy rises at 10 cents per dollar.

One assumption sits in these numbers. The 2026–27 Medicare levy low-income threshold has not been set yet: thresholds are usually fixed by the following year’s Budget, and in May 2026 the 2025–26 figure was raised from $27,222 to $28,011 with effect from 1 July 2025. The calculator therefore uses $28,011 and says so. Only total incomes between $28,011 and about $36,000 are affected, and if the threshold rises by 3%, about $840, the levy shown could be out by about $84 at most.

What changes in the capital gains tax calculation from 1 July 2027?

From 1 July 2027 the capital gains tax calculation changes for gains that build up from that date: a law passed in June 2026 replaces the 50% CGT discount with indexation of your cost base to inflation, plus a minimum 30% tax on capital gains. Any sale up to 30 June 2027 follows the rules in this calculator, and the calculator does not model the new rules yet.

The law is the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Act 2026, Act No. 49 of 2026, passed with the Income Tax Rates Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Act 2026 on 25 June 2026 and given assent on 26 June 2026, after the Budget of 12 May 2026. From 1 July 2027, for individuals, trusts and partners in partnerships:

• the 50% discount is replaced by indexation of the cost base to inflation, measured by the consumer price index, for assets held more than 12 months;
• a minimum tax of 30% applies to capital gains, with an exemption for certain recipients of government payments, such as the Age Pension;
• assets acquired before 20 September 1985, the pre-CGT assets, lose their exemption on the growth after 30 June 2027;
• companies and super funds are not affected;
• on the same day the second tax rate falls to 14% and a new offset of up to $250 on labour income begins.

The rule that matters most for a decision today is the transition. The part of a gain that has built up before 1 July 2027 keeps the 50% discount even if you sell later. The law treats the asset as sold and bought back just before 1 July 2027 and defers the tax on that older part until the real sale. The split between the old and the new part is made with the market value at 1 July 2027, or with an apportionment method that the Minister will set in a separate instrument. So you do not need to sell before that date just to keep the discount on what you have already gained, which is the most widespread misunderstanding about the reform. Whether to sell is still your decision; the calculator shows what a sale costs under the 2026–27 rules.

Two details close the gap between the two regimes. The CGT event date is the contract date, so a sale executed on 30 June 2027 and settled in July still belongs to 2026–27 and follows the current rules. And the parliamentary Bills Digest on the law states that the CGT changes apply only to gains arising on or after 1 July 2027, so nothing in the 2026–27 calculation moves. The only part of the law already in force in 2026–27 is the work-related standard deduction of up to $1,000, which lowers the taxable income you enter, not the gain. The ATO guidance on the reform and the Minister’s apportionment method have not been published yet, and a 2027–28 version of this calculator will need both.

What are the limits of the Australian capital gains tax calculator?

The main limit of the Australian capital gains tax calculator is that it prices one sale of shares or ETFs, held in your own name, by an Australian resident for tax purposes in the 2026–27 or 2025–26 income year, so the result is only as good as the cost base and the income you enter.

The following points sit outside the calculation:

• Super. Gains inside a superannuation fund follow another regime, with a one-third discount and the fund’s own rates.
• Non-residents, temporary residents and part-year residents. A non-resident has no tax-free threshold, no CGT discount and no Medicare levy: a different system.
• Property and your home. The main residence exemption, the limits on negative gearing from 2027, the small business CGT concessions, pre-CGT assets acquired before 20 September 1985 and the indexation method for assets acquired before 21 September 1999.
• Fund distributions and corporate events. ETF and managed fund distributions with a capital gain component and cost base adjustments from AMIT statements, dividends and franking credits, dividend reinvestment plans, demergers, roll-overs, share splits and employee share schemes.
• Wash sales. There is no automatic rule as in the United States, but the ATO can cancel the loss on a sale followed by buying the asset back under the anti-avoidance rule in Part IVA, as explained in ruling TR 2008/1, and it says it watches sales made at the end of June.
• Foreign currency. Every amount must be converted into Australian dollars at the date of each transaction before you enter it.
• Other levies and repayments. The Medicare levy surcharge of 1% to 1.5% for people without private hospital cover, the family Medicare thresholds, SAPTO, the offset for seniors and pensioners, levy exemptions, HELP and HECS repayments, which rise with taxable income including capital gains, and PAYG instalments.
• The rules from 1 July 2027, including the new offset of up to $250 on labour income and the 14% rate from 2027–28.
• Several gains in one year. The tool prices one sale at a time, so it does not choose for you which gains your capital losses should reduce.

Two practical points complete the picture. The 2026–27 Medicare levy low-income threshold has not been set yet, so the calculator uses the 2025–26 figure of $28,011, to be checked again after the May 2027 Budget. And the tool calculates the tax, not the lodgement: for 2026–27 a return you lodge yourself is due by 31 October 2027, which is a Sunday, so by Monday 1 November 2027, with payment due by 21 November; through a registered tax agent the dates are later.

What is the difference between a capital gains tax calculation and a crypto tax calculation?

The difference between a capital gains tax calculation and a crypto tax calculation in Australia is the asset, not the tax: shares, ETFs and crypto are all CGT assets, so both calculations use the same engine, the same 50% discount after 12 months and the same marginal rates plus Medicare levy. What changes is what counts as a sale and how the proceeds are valued.

Choose by what you sold. Shares and ETFs, including crypto ETFs listed on an exchange, belong on this page. Coins and tokens belong on the crypto tax calculator, where a swap with no dollars received is still taxed. And if you buy and sell many times a year, the question may not be capital gains at all. Trading often? Check whether the ATO could treat you as a trader.

Which calculators are related to the Australian capital gains tax calculator?

The calculators related to the Australian capital gains tax calculator sit on either side of the tax: one produces the gain you enter, one measures the return on a holding long enough to earn the discount, and one covers the case where frequent trading changes the rules.

The related calculators are listed below:

• Stock Profit Calculator: works out the profit or loss on a share position, the gain this tax calculation starts from.
• CAGR Calculator: measures the yearly growth rate of an investment held for more than 12 months, the holding period that earns the discount.
• Day Trading Tax Calculator: compares a year of trading as an investor, a share trader or a CFD trader outside a business.

FAQ

This calculator is an educational estimate and does not replace tax advice. It applies the ATO’s 2026–27 resident tax rates, or 2025–26 if you choose them, the tax-free threshold, the low income tax offset, the Medicare levy with its low-income reduction for a single person, the 50% CGT discount for assets held at least 12 months and capital losses applied before the discount, for an Australian resident for tax purposes investing in their own name, on sales up to 30 June 2027. It leaves out super, non-residents and temporary residents, the Medicare levy surcharge and family or senior thresholds, HELP and HECS repayments, dividends and franking credits, ETF and managed fund distributions, property and small business concessions, wash sales, foreign currency conversion, PAYG instalments and the rules that apply from 1 July 2027. The 2026–27 Medicare levy low-income threshold has not been set yet: we use the 2025–26 figure ($28,011). Sources: resident tax rates, low income tax offset, Medicare levy thresholds and CGT rules published by the Australian Taxation Office. Data last checked: 21 October 2026. Check with a registered tax agent before you lodge.