5 ways Sharesight helps Australian investors at tax time

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Built according to ATO rules, Sharesight’s tax reporting tools save Australian investors both time and money at tax time. Whether you file your taxes yourself or via an accountant, read on to learn how Sharesight’s Australia-specific tax features not only help you complete your tax return, but can also save you time and money.

Here are the 5 ways Sharesight helps Australian investors at tax time:

1. Australian tax settings
2. Australian capital gains tax report
3. Unrealised CGT report
4. Taxable income report
5. Portfolio sharing

Australian tax features within Sharesight

With all your investment tax related data in one place, and dividends automatically captured, Sharesight makes tax time a breeze. This is especially true for Australian investors, as four of the following five tax features were built specifically with them in mind:

1. Australian tax settings

Investors with a Sharesight portfolio tax residency set to "Australia" have a choice of the following portfolio tax settings which conform to Australian Taxation Office (ATO) tax entities:

• Individuals / Trust – CGT discount of 50 %

• Self Managed Super Fund – CGT discount of 33⅓ %

• Company CGT – discount of nil.

2. Australian capital gains tax report

The Australian capital gains tax report calculates capital gains made on shares as per the Australian Tax Office rules. It allows you to specify different sale allocation methods across the entire portfolio and individual holdings, including:

• First In, First Out (FIFO) – Sharesight assumes that you sell your longest held shares first.

• Last In, First Out (LIFO) – Sharesight assumes that you sell your most recently purchased shares first.

• Minimise Gain – Sharesight assumes that you sell shares with the highest purchase price first.

• Maximise Gain – Sharesight assumes that you sell shares with the lowest purchase price first.

• Minimise CGT – Sharesight assumes that you sell shares that will result in the lowest capital gains tax first. This method is more sophisticated than the ‘Minimise capital gain’ method because it takes into account the Australian CGT discounting rules.

You may run the capital gains tax report over any period in order to see:

• The CGT position for all your holdings sold within the period

• Your CGT gains broken up into short and long term, as well as losses and discounted capital gain distributions

• A summary of the short and long term gains and losses, plus any capital gain or claimable loss.

3. Unrealised CGT report

If you’ve incurred some losses this year, the unrealised CGT report helps you decide whether a tax loss selling strategy can help you offset your gains before the end of the tax year.

The unrealised CGT report:

• Displays the CGT position for all your holdings which are not yet sold

• Breaks up the CGT gains into short and long-term, and shows your losses as well

• Allows you to specify the sale allocation method at the overall portfolio and individual holding level to determine your optimal position

• Models the taxable income that would arise if the shares were sold on the report date.

Sharesight’s unrealised CGT report makes it easy for investors to model different tax loss selling scenarios.

4. Taxable income report

The taxable income report is also very useful at tax time as it breaks down all dividends over any time period, organised by local/overseas income and separates out withholding tax and imputation credits from the net dividend.

The taxable income report breaks down taxable income into local income (trust and non-trust) and foreign income.

The report also provides field references to the relevant sections on the Australian Income Tax Return for Individuals and Income Tax Return for Individuals (supplementary section), as well as the totals required for the Income Tax Return based on non-trust and trust income. This will go a long way in helping investors to file their tax returns.

5. Portfolio sharing

Another essential tax time feature is the ability to share your portfolio. Rather than printing out and forwarding your Sharesight tax reports, you can securely share portfolio access directly with your accountant and/or financial advisor. With all your portfolio data in one place, they’ll have everything they need to prepare your tax documents. Available on all Sharesight plans, portfolio sharing ensures everyone’s on the same page and focusing on what really matters – not just at tax time but throughout the whole year.

Simply the best portfolio tracker for Australian investors

Join thousands of Australian investors already using Sharesight to manage their investment portfolios. With Sharesight you can:

• Automatically track your dividend and distribution income from stocks, ETFs, LICs and Mutual/Managed Funds – including the value of franking credits
• Use the Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRPs/DRIPs) feature to track the impact of DRP transactions on your performance (and tax)
• See the true picture of your investment performance, including the impact of brokerage fees, dividends, and capital gains with Sharesight’s annualised performance calculation methodology
• Calculate your dividend income with the taxable income report
• Plus calculate your CGT obligations with Sharesight's Australian capital gains tax report and unrealised capital gains tax report

To get started for FREE, simply sign up, import your holdings and watch as dividends and prices are automatically updated. If you decide to upgrade, you’ll unlock advanced features and everything you need to run your tax reports and gain unparalleled insights into your portfolio performance throughout the year.

Plus, as an Australian tax resident, you can save even more by claiming your Sharesight subscription fees on your tax return.¹

FURTHER READING

• 7 reasons why Sharesight is better than a spreadsheet
• Record-keeping requirements for Australian investors
• Capital gains tax (CGT) calculator for Australian investors

¹ If you derive income from the share market, your Sharesight subscription may be tax deductible. Check with your accountant for details.