Situations we sort out
A capital gain has two sides. One is your file.
The sale price is public. The cost base — purchase records, improvements, holding costs, use history — is yours to prove. We assemble that side, answer the exemption questions in writing, and lodge a figure that withstands review.
Capital gains tax on a property sale is calculated from history: what you paid to acquire it, what you spent on it across the years, what it cost to hold, and how it was used. Those facts live in settlement statements, loan documents, invoices for renovations, council and insurance records — a paper trail that is easy to keep and painful to rebuild. The quality of that trail, more than anything else, is what determines how defensible the final figure is.
Use is the other half. Properties change roles — a home becomes a rental, a rental becomes a home, part of a house earns income for a while. Each change can affect how the eventual gain is treated, and the rules that decide it turn on dates, records and elections, not on what everyone assumed at the time. We answer the main residence and use questions in writing, from the facts, so the position is decided before it is lodged.
The best time to involve us is before the contract is signed, while timing and evidence can still be managed deliberately. The second-best time is now: if the sale has already happened, we rebuild the cost base from solicitors, agents, banks and your own records, and the calculation is lodged with its workings retained.
What we see at sale time
- Cost bases missing years of improvements because the invoices were never kept in one place.
- Main residence positions assumed for a decade and never once put in writing.
- Contracts signed before anyone asked what the timing would do to the year's position.
- Renovations claimed twice, or never — the rental schedules and the cost base telling different stories.
What we prepare
The cost base, itemised
Acquisition costs, incidentals, improvements and holding costs assembled from records and itemised, with each component's evidence referenced.
The use history, documented
When it was your home, when it earned income, and what shows it — the property's timeline established from records rather than memory.
Exemption positions in writing
Whether and how the main residence exemption applies to your facts is decided and given to you in writing before anything is lodged.
Advice before the contract
Confirmed before you sign, the position still has room in it — timing, elections, evidence. Afterwards, everything is history to be calculated.
The calculation, retained
The gain computed from the evidence, reconciled to the return, and kept with its workings so the figure can be shown years later.
Reconstruction after the fact
Already sold, records scattered? We rebuild from solicitors, agents, lenders and official records, and document what each component rests on.
A CGT position from this office is a written one — cost base itemised, use history documented, exemptions decided on facts — so the figure in the return can defend itself. See our method →
Common questions
When should I talk to an accountant about selling — before or after?
Before the contract, if you can. Once a contract is signed the tax consequences largely crystallise, and what remains is calculating and evidencing them. Before signing, there is still room to confirm the position, gather the records and consider timing deliberately. If the property is already sold, the work is still entirely doable — it just becomes reconstruction rather than preparation.
What actually goes into the cost base?
Broadly: what it cost to acquire the property, certain incidental costs of buying and selling, capital improvements over the ownership, and in some cases costs of holding it. What qualifies depends on your circumstances and how the property was used, which is why we itemise it from records rather than applying a template. Each component goes into the calculation with its evidence referenced.
I lived in the property for part of the ownership. Do I still pay CGT?
It depends on the facts: the periods it was your main residence, the periods it earned income, the choices available for the years in between, and what the records show. Sometimes an exemption covers the whole gain, sometimes part, sometimes none. We work through your timeline, apply the rules to it, and give you the answer in writing — not a general principle, your position.
I've lost the records from when we bought it years ago.
Much of a property's paper trail can be re-obtained: conveyancers and solicitors keep files, lenders can reissue statements, agents hold sale records, and titles and duties leave official traces. Improvements can often be evidenced through bank records and supplier reprints. We rebuild the cost base from those sources and document what supports every component, so the calculation rests on records rather than recollection.
The property was inherited. How does CGT work then?
Inherited property has its own rules, and the answer turns on facts about the deceased's ownership and use as well as yours — when it was acquired, how it was used, and what has happened since. It is exactly the kind of question that should be answered from documents and put in writing before the return is lodged. We gather the history and give you the position, not a guess.
Does it matter when in the year I sign the contract?
Timing can matter, and the contract date is generally the date that counts for CGT rather than settlement — one of several reasons to take advice before signing rather than after. What the timing means for you depends on your other income and circumstances for the year, so we set out the position in writing while the decision is still yours to make.
General information only — not tax, legal or financial advice. Advice specific to your circumstances is provided within a signed engagement.
Related reading
Speak to the person who signs the return.
Consultations are with a registered tax agent — by phone or video, wherever you are in Australia.