Capital gains tax is the tax that you will be required to make whenever you make a capital gain. This tax is common in many of the developed countries in the west and but quite rare in countries that are not developed. This means that people who come from developing nations and such can find the concept of being taxed on capital gains to be quite strange, if not offensive, especially when it gets into interpretation of gifts and inheritance.
The main trait of capital gains is that you will be taxed money even if what you engage in is not your normal trade. So that if you sell your house, the difference between the purchase price and the selling price will be taxed.
In analyzing capital gains, there are two main areas that you need to consider and pay greater attention: your real estate, and your shares or units.
In case you purchase a number of shares in a particular company in the stock exchange and then later on sell it for a profit, you are required to pay taxes on the difference between the buying price and the selling price. However, you will only be taxed when the new value of the shares have been realized. For example, if you bought stock worth $20,000 last year, and this year the value of your shares goes to $40,000, despite the fact that your wealth would have increased your wealth by $20,000, you will not be required to pay tax on the gains until you have actually obtained that money from the sale.
When it comes to the sale of real estate that you partly or fully own, the laws demands that you pay taxes on any capital gains that you might realize. You may however need to consult with the Australian taxation office on which portion of your revenues you will be required to pay the capital gains tax and which one will not require you to pay revenue.
Unfortunately with capital gains, there are other things that will kind of hurt you and which you will have to pay for. For example, if you transfer a property to someone else for no value at all, it will be assumed that you actually sold the good at the market value. This means that you might even be required to pay tax for money that you have not earned. Again, if you sell the item at a less than market price value, the same case will apply.
Another aspect of the Capital gains tax that you need to be aware of is the issue of international agreements and considerations. There are three main areas that definitely apply to the Australian law. They are residency, application of CGT when going outside Australia, and the selling of assets that which are denominated in a currency other than the Australian dollar.
All in all, the issues that deal with capital gains tax are probably among the most complex ones that can face the ordinary taxpayer. This is because it goes deep into not only in dealing with income – but also bringing complexities in otherwise simple matters of law such as inheritance, gifts and so on.