How CGT really works
There is no separate CGT rate in Australia. Your net capital gain joins your taxable income for the year and is taxed at whatever marginal rates apply — which is why the same $100,000 gain costs a part-time worker far less than someone on $190,000, and why big gains push part of themselves into higher brackets. Individuals who held the asset more than 12 months discount the gain by 50% before adding it. This calculator computes the honest number: your tax bill with the gain minus your bill without it, Medicare levy included.
The levers that change the answer
Timing dominates. Selling in a low-income year — a career break, retirement, maternity leave — can halve the tax on the same gain. Capital losses, current-year or carried forward from that old crypto punt, offset gains before the discount applies, so apply them against undiscounted (short-held) gains first where you can choose. Your own home is generally exempt under the main residence exemption, including (within limits) up to six years of renting it out under the absence rule. And the contract date, not settlement, fixes which tax year a property gain lands in — signing on 25 June versus 5 July is a one-year deferral.