Tallyroo.

Australia-wide · Capital gains tax

Capital gains tax calculator

Enter the sale and purchase prices and your income to see the capital gains tax on a property, at FY 2026–27 rates.

FY 2026-27 rates · verified against the official sources.

Agent’s commission and legals when you sell.

Stamp duty, legals and inspections when you bought.

For the year you sign the sale contract, before the gain.

Improvements, losses and if you lived in it

Renovations and additions, not repairs.

The capital works deductions you claimed, or could have. The ATO takes them off the cost base.

This year’s, plus any carried forward from earlier years.

Did you ever live in it?

Counted in the result from the options above: $15,000 of improvements.

Your tally

CGT payable

$46,750

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

How it’s made up

Cost base$640,000
Gross capital gain$240,000
50% discount−$120,000
Net gain added to your income$120,000
From sale price to tax bill

Next: add up the selling costs that go in that field → Cost of selling calculator

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. Counting a part-exempt home in years is an estimate (the ATO uses days); counting it by dates applies the six-year absence rule, for contracts dated by 30 June 2027. Offsets and edge cases are yours to confirm with the ATO or your accountant.

What capital gains tax is

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.

In the ATO’s words, capital gains tax “is the tax you pay on profits from disposing of assets including investments, for example property, shares and crypto assets.” And then the part that surprises people: “it’s part of your income tax. It’s not a separate tax.” The gain goes on your ordinary tax return, normally for the year you sign the contract to sell.

A capital gain or loss generally arises when you stop owning an asset. A loss cannot reduce your wages, but it offsets capital gains in the same year or any later one, so it is worth recording even in a year with nothing to set it against. Your own home is generally exempt, and a property bought before 20 September 1985 is outside CGT if the contract to sell is signed before 1 July 2027. From that day it stops being pre-CGT, and the 2027 Act treats it as bought again at its market value.

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, and loan principal. And capital works deductions (Division 43, the building write-off) you claimed or could have claimed reduce 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. The same Act narrows negative gearing on the same day, and it also adds a 30% minimum rate on capital gains that the discount debate mostly overlooks — both are set out in what the 2027 Act actually says.

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 a new residential dwelling, a term the Act leaves to a ministerial instrument that has not been made. 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. An asset you still hold on 30 June 2027 is treated as sold just before, and bought back on, 1 July 2027: growth up to that day keeps the 50% discount, though the tax on it waits until you actually sell, and only later growth is indexed and faces the 30% minimum. How a property gain is split either side of that day is still a draft instrument, not law, so we will add the post-2027 mode once it is settled.

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 runs that bracket arithmetic at FY 2026–27 rates, including the Medicare levy (its low-income thresholds are last year's, carried forward until the Budget sets this year's).
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. Stamp duty and legals when you bought, capital improvements while you owned (renovations, not repairs), and the agent's commission and legals when you sell all belong in it — the duty and the fees as incidental costs. This calculator takes the selling costs off the sale price instead, which gives the same gain. Division 43 capital works deductions you claimed go the other way: they come off.
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. A new residential dwelling — a term the Act leaves to a ministerial instrument not yet made — and affordable housing keep the discount, and a 30% minimum rate applies to what is left of the gain. On something you already own, the part of the gain built up before 1 July 2027 is still discounted. 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 →

Embed this calculator on your site

Conveyancers, brokers, agents: add the Capital gains tax calculator to your own website free of charge. Paste this snippet anywhere HTML is accepted — it stays up to date automatically, because it renders from the same tested engine as this page. We only ask that the attribution line stays visible.

The attribution links carry rel="nofollow", which is what Google asks of any link distributed through a widget — so adding this cannot affect your own site's rankings either way. See every calculator you can embed, and the terms, on one page.

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.