End of Financial Year Tax Checklist for Australian Traders

Why EOFY Preparation Starts in April, Not June

Most traders think about tax on 1 July when it is too late to do anything about it. By then, all your CGT events for the year are locked in. You cannot sell a losing position in July to offset a gain from May.

The traders who pay the least tax (legally) are the ones who start planning in April. Three months gives you enough time to review positions, harvest losses, time disposals, and organise records without rushing decisions that affect your portfolio.

Here is a month-by-month checklist for the final quarter of the 2025-26 financial year.

April: Review and Assess

Week 1-2: Run Your Numbers

• Calculate your year-to-date realised capital gains across all brokers
• Calculate your year-to-date realised capital losses
• Check carried-forward losses from previous financial years
• Calculate your current net capital gain position
• Review your expected employment or business income for the full year to estimate your marginal tax rate

At this point you need a clear picture of where you stand. If you have $20,000 in net gains and your marginal rate is 30%, you are looking at roughly $6,400 in CGT (plus Medicare). That number sets the urgency for the next two months.

Week 3-4: Audit Open Positions

• List all open positions with current unrealised P&L
• Identify any positions sitting at a loss that you would consider closing
• Check acquisition dates -- flag positions approaching 12 months hold time
• For each position nearing 12 months, calculate the tax saving if you hold past the CGT discount date versus selling now

Example: You bought WDS.AU on 28 April 2025. The CGT discount kicks in on 29 April 2026. If this position is profitable, holding one extra day saves you 50% of the tax on that gain. If the gain is $5,000 and your marginal rate is 37%, that is $925 saved by waiting one day.

May: Execute Tax Strategies

Week 1-2: Tax-Loss Harvesting Decisions

• Identify positions with unrealised losses that fit these criteria:
  • The position no longer fits your strategy thesis
  • The stock has broken key support levels
  • You were planning to exit anyway
• Calculate the tax saving from crystallising each loss
• Decide which losses to harvest based on the after-tax benefit
• Document your genuine investment reason for each sale (not "tax purposes")

Remember: selling purely to manufacture a tax loss and then rebuying the same stock is a wash sale. The ATO specifically targets this behaviour. Only sell positions where you have a genuine reason beyond tax.

• If you want continued exposure to the same sector after selling, identify a different stock or ETF you could buy instead (not the same stock, not a substantially identical asset)

Week 3-4: CGT Discount Timing

• Execute any planned sales of positions that have passed 12 months
• For positions within 2-4 weeks of the 12-month mark and still profitable, set calendar reminders for the discount eligibility date
• Reassess whether holding for the discount still makes sense given current market conditions

Important: Do not hold a losing position past its stop-loss just to wait for the discount date. The discount is only valuable on a gain. If the position turns negative, there is no discount to capture.

June: Finalise and Gather

Week 1-2: Last-Chance Tax Actions

• Execute final tax-loss harvesting trades by mid-June (allow settlement time before 30 June)
• Sell any positions you have been holding purely for the CGT discount if they have now passed 12 months
• If you have large gains, decide whether any disposals should be deferred to July (falling into the next financial year)
• Make any deductible purchases before 30 June:
  • Trading software annual subscriptions
  • Equipment (computer, monitor) -- items under $300 are immediately deductible for traders
  • Pre-pay subscriptions for the next 12 months (deductible in the year of payment if under $1,000 or if you are a small business entity)

Week 3-4: Record Consolidation

• Download annual statements from every broker you used during the year
• Reconcile broker statements against your trading journal
• Verify the trade count and total proceeds match between your records and broker statements
• Check for any corporate actions during the year that affected cost bases:
  • Share splits or consolidations
  • Returns of capital
  • Dividend reinvestment plan purchases
  • Takeovers or mergers
  • Spin-offs or demergers
• Confirm you have contract notes for every buy and sell transaction

If you use multiple brokers, this is where things get messy. A trade opened on Broker A and the same stock held on Broker B creates parcel identification complications. Consolidate everything into one view.

The Deductions Checklist (Share Traders Only)

This section applies only if you are classified as a share trader carrying on a business. If you are an investor, these deductions are not available to you (except tax agent fees).

Software and Subscriptions

• Trading platform fees (annual total)
• Market data subscriptions (ASX data, international feeds)
• Charting and analysis software
• Portfolio management tools
• Research and news services
• Stock screening tools

Home Office

• Choose your method: fixed rate (70 cents per hour) or actual costs
• If using fixed rate: ensure your hours log covers the full year or at least a representative 4-week period
• If using actual costs: gather electricity, gas, internet, and phone bills for the full year
• Calculate floor area percentage if using actual cost method

Equipment

• List all equipment purchased during the year with receipts
• Items under $300: claim full deduction this year
• Items over $300: calculate depreciation for the year
  • Computer equipment: 4-year effective life
  • Office furniture: 10-year effective life
  • Software (if purchased outright): 2.5-year effective life

Other Deductible Expenses

• Interest on funds borrowed for trading
• Trading courses and education costs
• Books and publications on trading
• Tax agent and accountant fees
• Travel to investment seminars (if applicable)

Preparing for Your Accountant

Give your tax agent a complete pack, not a box of receipts. The more organised your documents, the less time they spend (and the less they charge).

The Accountant Pack Checklist

• CGT summary report showing:
  • Every disposal: asset name, date acquired, date sold, cost base, proceeds, gain/loss
  • Holding period for each disposal (and which qualify for 50% discount)
  • Total gains, total losses, net position
  • Carried-forward losses from prior years
• Annual broker statements from all platforms
• Dividend statements (note: franking credits are separate from CGT)
• Summary of deductions with receipts attached
• Home office hours log or calculation
• Record of any private rulings obtained
• Details of any corporate actions that affected cost bases
• Your employment income summary (payment summary or STP income statement)

Multi-Broker Reconciliation

If you traded through CommSec, Interactive Brokers, and SelfWealth during the year, each broker only sees their portion of your trades. None of them can produce a complete CGT report for you.

You need to consolidate across all brokers into a single report. This is where dedicated portfolio tracking software earns its subscription fee many times over.

Key Dates for 2025-26

The T+2 Settlement Trap

Australian shares settle on T+2 (two business days after the trade date). The CGT event is triggered on the trade date, not the settlement date. So a trade executed on Monday 29 June 2026 falls in the 2025-26 financial year, even though settlement is Wednesday 1 July 2026.

This works in your favour for tax-loss harvesting: you can trade up to and including 30 June. But be aware that if 30 June falls on a weekend, the last trading day is the Friday before.

In 2026, 30 June falls on a Tuesday. So Tuesday 30 June 2026 is your last day to execute trades for the 2025-26 financial year.

How SwingFolio Makes EOFY Easier

SwingFolio generates your complete CGT summary across all portfolios with one click. Every trade is recorded with acquisition date, disposal date, cost base (including brokerage), and holding period. The platform flags positions approaching the 12-month CGT discount date and calculates unrealised losses available for tax-loss harvesting.

At tax time, export the CGT report for your accountant or use it to fill out item 18 of your supplementary tax return. No manual spreadsheets, no reconciling across brokers, no missed brokerage deductions.