Personal investors guide to capital gains tax 2008

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More information

Internet

For general tax information and comprehensive information about deductions, visit www.a to.gov.au

Publications

Publications referred to in this guide are:

• Carrying on a business of share trading - fact sheet
• General value shifting regime: who it affects
• Guide to capital gains tax 2008 (NAT   4151)
• Capital gains tax (CGT) concessions for small business - overview
• You and your shares 2008 (NAT   2632)

To get publications, taxation rulings, practice statements and forms referred to in this guide:

• visit our website at www.ato.gov.au/publications
• phone our Publications Distribution Service on 1300   720   092 , or
• visit one of our shopfronts .

Infolines

We can offer a more personalised service if you provide a tax file number (TFN).

• Personal tax - 13   28   61

Individual income tax and general personal tax enquiries, including capital gains tax

• Business - 13   28   66

General business tax enquiries including capital gains tax, GST rulings, Australian business number (ABN), pay as you go (PAYG) instalments, business deductions, activity statements (including lodgment and payment), accounts and business registration (including ABN and TFN), dividend and royalty withholding tax

• Superannuation - 13 10 20
  
   
• Fax - 13 28 60

Get information faxed to you about individual taxes and the repayment of debts under the Higher Education Loan Programme (HELP) and the Student Financial Supplement Scheme (SFSS). Note that debts under the former Higher Education Contribution Scheme (HECS) have now been added to any debt under HELP to become an accumulated HELP debt. Phone 13   28   60 and follow the instructions to order information to be faxed to you.

Other services

• Translating and Interpreting Service - 13 14 50

If you do not speak English well and need help from the Tax Office, phone the Translating and Interpreting Service.

• Hearing or speech impairment

If you are deaf or have a hearing or speech impairment, you can phone us through the National Relay Service :

• If you are a TTY or modem user, phone 13   36   77 and ask for the number you want. For 1800 free call numbers, phone 1800   555   677 and ask for the number you want.
  
   
• If you are voice-only (speak and listen) user, phone 1300   555   727 and ask for the number you want. For 1800 free call numbers, phone 1800   555   727 and ask for the number you want.

Lodge online using e-tax

• Why not lodge online?
• e-tax is a fast, secure and easy way to prepare and lodge your tax return.
• Most refunds are issued within 14 days
• For more information, visit our website at www.ato.gov.au/etax

Our commitment to you

We are committed to providing you with guidance you can rely on, so we make every effort to ensure that our publications are correct.

If you follow our guidance in this publication and it turns out to be incorrect, or it is misleading and you make a mistake as a result, we must still apply the law correctly. If that means you owe us money, we must ask you to pay it but we will not charge you a penalty. Also, if you acted reasonably and in good faith we will not charge you interest.

If you make an honest mistake in trying to follow our guidance in this publication and you owe us money as a result, we will not charge you a penalty. However, we will ask you to pay the money, and we may also charge you interest.

If correcting the mistake means we owe you money, we will pay it to you. We will also pay you any interest you are entitled to.

If you feel that this publication does not fully cover your circumstances, or you are unsure how it applies to you, you can seek further assistance from us.

We regularly revise our publications to take account of any changes to the law, so make sure that you have the latest information. If you are unsure, you can check for a more recent version on our website at www.ato.gov.au or contact us.

This publication was current at May 2008 .

How self-assessment affects you

Self-assessment means the Tax Office uses the information you give on your tax return and any related schedules and forms to work out your refund or tax liability. We do not take any responsibility for checking the accuracy of the details you provide, although our system automatically checks the arithmetic.

Although we do not check the accuracy of your tax return at the time of processing, at a later date we may examine the details more thoroughly by reviewing specific parts, orby conducting an audit of your tax affairs. We also have a number of audit programs that are designed to continually check for missing, inaccurate or incomplete information.

What are your responsibilities?

It is your responsibility to lodge a tax return that is signed, complete and correct. Even if someone else - including a tax agent - helps you to prepare your tax return and any related schedules, you are still legally responsible for the accuracy of your information.

What if you lodge an incorrect tax return?

If you become aware that your tax return is incorrect, you must contact us straight away.

Initiatives to complement self-assessment

There are a number of systems and entitlements that complement self-assessment, including:

• the private ruling system (see below)
• the amendment system (if you find you have left something out of your tax return)
• your entitlement to interest on early payment or over-payment of a tax debt.

Do you need to ask for a private ruling?

If you are uncertain about how a tax law applies to your personal tax affairs, you can ask for a private ruling. To do this, complete a Private ruling application form (non-tax professionals) (NAT   13742), or contact us.

Lodge your tax return by the due date, even if you are waiting for the response to your application. You may need to request an amendment to your tax return once you have received the private ruling.

We publish all private rulings on our website. (Before we publish we edit the text to remove information that would identify you.)

Last Modified: Monday, 11 August 2008

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Copyright

Commonwealth of Australia

This work is copyright. You may download, display, print and reproduce this material in unaltered form only (retaining this notice) for your personal, non-commercial use or use within your organisation. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 , all other rights are reserved.

Requests for further authorisation should be directed to the Commonwealth Copyright Administration, Copyright Law Branch, Attorney-General's Department, Robert Garran Offices, National Circuit, BARTON ACT 2600 or posted at http://www.ag.gov.au/cca .

ATO references:
NO NAT 4152