Your EOFY tax cheat sheet: Webinar replay

The cash arriving in your bank account is easy enough to find. Working out how that payment fits into an ETF's tax records takes a little more digging.

That was one of the main points I wanted to get across in my tax webinar with Marcus Today. We looked at investment income, annual fund statements, cost base adjustments and the purchase parcels sitting behind a capital gains calculation. Then Tom and I worked through questions from the audience.

The recording and presentation are below, followed by the examples worth revisiting and an edited selection of audience questions.

Watch the webinar

Recorded with Marcus Today on 19 October 2026.

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The cash payment is only part of the story

When a dividend or distribution arrives, it's tempting to start and finish with the amount paid. For a fund using the AMIT framework, the annual statement contains more information than that bank entry can show.

AMIT means attribution managed investment trust. Its AMMA statement—the AMIT member annual statement—sets out the tax components attributed to you and any AMIT cost base net amount. Those components can include Australian income, franking credits, foreign income and capital gains.

Some information may appear in ATO pre-fill. That doesn't establish that every record is complete, or that your historical cost bases have been updated. Check the final statement against your records and the information being used for your return.

Our AMIT and AMMA guide explains the statements and where they fit in Navexa.

A small cost base adjustment follows the units

Here's the simple example I used in the webinar. A hypothetical investor buys 500 units at $20 each, giving an initial cost base of $10,000. The relevant AMMA statement specifies a cost base decrease of 15 cents per unit for those units.

The sale proceeds haven't changed. The historical number used in the calculation has.

Now add monthly purchases, reinvested distributions and several years of statements. Each acquisition has its own history. That is the administrative problem I wanted the example to make visible.

It doesn't mean copying one annual adjustment onto every parcel. Apply the statement's figures to the relevant units, following the issuer's information. Purchases and disposals during the year can matter. If a downward adjustment exceeds a unit's cost base, the excess can itself produce a capital gain. The ATO's AMIT guidance explains that distinction.

A sale needs a history of the parcels behind it

A holding is the investment as a whole. A parcel is a particular acquisition within that holding, with its own date, quantity and cost base. Reinvestments can add parcels too.

In the webinar's two-parcel example, 100 units were acquired at $10 each and another 100 at $15. A later sale of 100 units at $20 brings in $2,000. Matching that sale to the first parcel gives a $1,000 gain before other adjustments. Matching it to the second gives a $500 gain.

Those figures illustrate different recorded cost bases. They don't tell you which parcel to use or what your tax bill will be. Eligibility, previous disposals, capital losses and your entity's treatment still matter.

The detail that tends to disappear in a spreadsheet is what happens next. Once units from a parcel have been allocated to a disposal, those same units aren't available for another disposal. A purchase confirmation on its own doesn't show how many units remain after years of sales and reinvestments.

Three questions from the audience

These questions get to the practical side of the records. The answers have been edited for clarity, with current product guidance linked where useful.

What changes from 1 July 2027?

We also covered the legislated CGT reforms starting on 1 July 2027, the beginning of the 2027–28 financial year.

For covered investors, the calculation distinguishes gains accrued before that date from later gains. The new arrangements replace the 50% discount with cost base indexation for eligible individuals and trusts. Indexation generally requires at least 12 months' ownership, and a 30% minimum tax can apply to covered gains, subject to exceptions.

The transition includes a deemed sale and reacquisition for covered assets, with the pre-change gain or loss generally deferred until a later realisation event. It isn't simply an immediate tax bill because the calendar reaches 30 June. The rules don't apply uniformly to individuals, companies and SMSFs.

I won't turn the webinar's simplified example into a formula for your return here. The legislation contains the conditions and exceptions. A registered tax agent can explain how they apply to your circumstances.

The records point is straightforward: the earlier purchases, distributions, adjustments and disposals still matter. A change in the calculation doesn't remove the history behind it.

Bring the records together before the report

Navexa helps bring investment records and reporting data together. The usefulness of a report still depends on the history recorded in the account.

A practical records pack for your accountant or registered tax agent can include:

• The final annual tax statements for the funds you hold, including relevant AMMA statements.
• Purchase and sale confirmations, with dates, quantities, prices, fees and currencies.
• Dividend and distribution statements, including reinvestments.
• Cost base adjustments and the issuer information used to allocate them.
• Records of earlier disposals and the purchase parcels already used.
• Your reporting data, reconciled against those source records.

If you're entering an annual fund statement in Navexa, our statement-entry guide covers the process and the checks to make.

What I wanted to demonstrate in this session was why the history matters even when this year's task looks straightforward. A number that seems minor today can be the number needed to explain a calculation years later.

Other questions

More from the webinar, including imports, separate entities and using Navexa on your phone.

General information only. This article and its examples do not provide financial, investment or tax advice or take account of your circumstances. Navexa provides portfolio tracking and reporting tools based on the data recorded in your account. Review your records and speak with a registered tax agent about your tax treatment.