5 ways Sharesight helps Australian investors at tax time

The below article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute a product recommendation, or taxation or financial advice and should not be relied upon as such. Please check with your adviser or accountant to obtain the correct advice for your situation.

Sharesight’s valuable tax reports (built according to ATO rules) 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 Australian-specific tax features not only help you complete your tax return, but also save you time and money.

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

Important tax deadlines

30 June – Tax year ends

The 2019-2020 tax year ends on 30 June 2020.





31 October – Tax returns due if filing yourself

Your tax return for the 2019-2020 financial year must be filed by 31 October 2020 if you are filing yourself.





15 May – Tax returns due if filing via a registered tax agent

Your tax return for the 2019-2020 financial year must be filed by 15 May 2020 when filing via a tax agent. Note that this deadline moves forward to 31 March if you had tax payable of $20,000 or more in the previous financial year and are filing via a tax agent. If you have one or more unlodged tax returns from earlier years, you must file your returns (this year’s return and the outstanding earlier returns) by 31 October.

Australian tax features within Sharesight

With all your trade data in one place, and dividends automatically captured, Sharesight makes tax-time a breeze. This is especially true for Australian investors, as 4 of the following 5 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

For more information, check out our help page: Tax Residency of a Portfolio.

#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 your losses.

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

For more information, check out our help page: Capital Gains Tax Report

#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 optimum position.

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

For more information, check out our help page: Unrealised Capital Gains Tax Report

#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.

As a bonus, the report now 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 2018-2019 returns.

For more information, check out our help page: Taxable Income Report

#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 year.

For more information, check out our help page: Sharing access of your portfolio

Tax time webinar with PwC & Sharesight

Watch this webinar where PwC Partner Glen Frost & Director Tristan Whitefield & Sharesight CEO, Doug Morris answer your Australian tax time questions.

Embedded content: https://www.youtube.com/embed/56bbRYB4VXo

Simply the best portfolio tracker for Australian investors

Join thousands of Australian investors already using Sharesight to manage their investment portfolios. To get started for FREE, simply sign-up, import your holdings and watch as corporate actions such as dividends and stock splits are automatically incorporated. You’ll get everything you need to run your tax reports and gain unparalleled insights into your portfolio performance throughout the year. And as an Australian tax resident, you can save even more by claiming your Sharesight subscription fees on your tax return1.

FURTHER READING