How 2026 CGT Changes Affect Investors

Capital gains tax is the part of investing people think about last and regret first. With the 50% discount being reworked as part of the 2026 reforms, it's worth understanding before your next buy or sell — not at tax time.

Put simply, capital gains tax is what you pay on the profit when you sell an investment property. Until now, holding for more than a year generally meant you were only taxed on half the gain. As that discount changes, so does how much of your profit you actually keep — and the maths on whether to sell now or later.

The quiet truth is that the biggest tax decisions are made at the start, not the end: who owns the property, how it's structured, and when you plan to sell. Getting that right early — with your accountant in the room — is what protects your return when it's time to cash in.

For someone like Tom, weighing whether to sell an investment unit now or later, the reworked 50% discount changes the maths directly — it shifts how much of the gain you keep after holding longer than a year. But the lever people forget is ownership: whether the property sits in your name, jointly, in a trust or in super can change the tax outcome as much as timing does.

The catch is that changing the ownership structure later can itself trigger tax, so the cheapest time to get it right is before you buy or sell, not at tax time. Plan the sale and the structure together with your accountant well before you list. This is general information, not personal tax advice — your circumstances decide the result.