"I've already signed. Am I too late?"
No. For tax, the sale happened the day you signed, not the day it settles. But your concession choices are not due until your tax return is lodged. The months in between are your window to get this right.
Your full access is live
Welcome back
Every combination is unlocked. Change the sale price, the owner or the contract date and run it again as often as you like. Nothing is deducted, nothing counts down, and none of it expires.
Your access
Unlimited
No expiry, nothing to renew
The figures your sale is tested against
All guidesYour account and access
Access and ordersSold the business? Don't let a default decide your tax bill.
Don't lose over $300,000. Our small business CGT concessions calculator prices every legal way to claim, on your own numbers, to show you your choices before a bad decision costs you.
You have sold the business, or the building it runs from, and the tax is coming. There are four small business CGT concessions, and you can often stack more than one on the same sale. The one that switches on by itself is not always the one that leaves you the most. Most guides stop at “do I qualify?”. Almost none show what each choice costs you.
A tax adviser will typically charge $2,500 to $8,000 for written advice on these concessions, and it can take weeks. This calculator prices every legal way to claim in about three minutes, on your own figures, with every step shown, for $19.
- Free eligibility check. No card, no sign up
- Full report $19, paid once. Nothing renews
- Built on the 2026-27 income year tax rates
30 second tax estimate
Three numbers. See the tax you could cut.
$
$
-
You would pay
$-
in tax if you claim no concessions
The concessions could save you
$-
-
A rough guide. It assumes you own the asset yourself, are not retiring, have $90,000 of other income and meet the basic conditions. The full calculator checks all of that.
Sound familiar?
Lost in the small business CGT rules?
You are not the only one.
The rules sit in Division 152 of the tax Act and spill into four other parts of it. They were written for tax experts. Nothing official shows you, in dollars, how the four concessions work together on your sale.
"Active asset? Connected entity? What does any of it mean?"
Each one is a legal term with its own test behind it. Each one can decide whether you get a six figure tax break. None of them means what it sounds like.
"My mate says the 15-year exemption covers me."
It might. You need 15 years of owning the asset without a break, you need to be 55 or older with the sale linked to retiring, or permanently incapacitated at any age. Miss any one and a different set of concessions applies, with a very different tax bill.
"How much of the sale price do I actually keep?"
Everyone asks this, and no guide can answer it for you. It depends on your figures, your age, who owns the asset, and which mix of concessions goes into your tax return.
So we built the tool that was missing.
You enter the sale, the business and your own situation. We apply the published rules, check every basic condition against the figure that decides it, price every legal combination of the four concessions, and put them in order. Plain English beside every tax term. No appointment, no sales call.
Advice costs thousands
Written advice on the concessions from a tax adviser typically costs
$2,500 to $8,000, and many people only get it once the contract is signed and
the choices are narrower.
The buyer has no reason to tell you
The price is agreed and the contract is signed. The tax is your problem, not
theirs, and nobody on the other side will bring it up.
Your accountant will, usually in October
They are the right person to confirm you meet the conditions on your facts. But
walk in with questions and no numbers, and by then the contract date is set and the
owner on the title can't be changed.
Eight short steps, about three minutes. You'll see which of the four concessions you qualify for and what they are worth to you. It costs nothing.
What doing nothing costs
Same sale, two tax returns,
- difference in tax.
Both tax returns are legal. The only difference is which mix of the four concessions went into them.
Took the default
The return that claimed only the obvious discount
- Took the general 50% CGT discount that everybody gets
- Never proved the basic conditions, so none of the small business concessions could be used
- Never touched the $500,000 retirement exemption, which is still sitting there unused
- Paid tax on the whole discounted gain in one income year, at the top tax rates
left after tax
-
Checked every option first
The return that priced every combination
- Same general 50% discount, same starting point
- Recorded the turnover and net asset figures, so the basic conditions were met
- Claimed the 50% active asset reduction, then the retirement exemption on what was left
- Made every choice before the tax return was lodged, because afterwards is too late
left after tax
-
Same business. Same buyer. Same rules. One of them paid this much tax.
-
That is - of the gain, on a sale of
- with a - gain,
owned for - years by someone aged
- with - of
other income. Neither seller broke a rule. There are
- legal ways to claim this, and the first seller was never
shown them.
The report that shows you every way to claim, priced costs $19, once.
Both sellers are made up, and so is the business. The rules, the tax rates and the maths are real. All of them are published, and this calculator applies all of them. The same sale is the first example on the scenarios page, with every figure worked out by the same engine.
Your other options
Three ways to get an answer.
Only one prices every combination.
| Read a guide What most people do |
A tax adviser Written advice |
Small Business CGT This calculator |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Nothing now | $2,500 to $8,000 | $19 |
| Time to an answer | An evening, and still no figure | Usually 2 to 6 weeks | About 3 minutes |
| Tells you if you qualify | |||
| Prices every legal combination | Rarely all of them | ||
| Advice personal to you |
Key dates
Three dates that decide your tax bill
Each one is set by law or by the ATO's published lodgment dates. Miss one and the choice is made for you, at a figure you did not pick and cannot undo.
Your contract date sets the tax year
For tax, the sale happens the day the contract is signed, not the day it settles. Signing just before or just after 30 June moves the whole gain into a different income year, with different tax rates and a different amount of other income on top. These figures use the - rates. What the contract date locks in.
Every concession choice is due when you lodge
Section 103-25. There is no form to send in. Your choice shows in the way the tax return is prepared, which is why it cannot be added afterwards. The day is 31 October if you lodge yourself, and later if a registered tax agent lodges for you. Why the order has to be decided first.
Buy a replacement asset in time, or the tax comes back
A rollover only holds if you buy a replacement active asset between one year before the sale and two years after it. If you don't, the whole deferred amount comes back as a capital gain, and the general - discount cannot be used against it. What happens if the window closes.
What you get
The Small Business CGT Concessions Report
The free check tells you if the concessions are open to you, and what they are worth. The report prices every combination and puts them in order, on your own figures, with every step shown and charts to match. Your accountant gets the numbers already worked, ready to check.
Free: find out if you qualify, and what it is worth
- Your capital gain, worked out from the sale price and what the asset cost you
- Every basic condition checked, with the figure that decided it
- The test you failed, by name, if you fail one
- Every legal combination named and explained in full
- How much tax the concessions could save you compared with claiming nothing
Paid: which way leaves you the most, $19
- What every combination leaves you, to the dollar
- All of them ranked on one clear measure, most to least
- What switching off the automatic 50% reduction is worth to you
- How much of the - lifetime limit each one uses
- How much can go into super under the CGT cap, and by when
- The real tax rate on your gain, against the full tax scale
- What changes if the price, your income or the owner changes
- Every legal deadline, counted from your contract date
- The assistant, answering on your own figures, with no limit
- The whole thing as a PDF for your accountant, charts included
See a sample report, free. It runs a made-up business all the way through, shows the opening sections exactly as a customer sees them, and lets you ask the assistant two questions.
How it works
Check your small business CGT concessions in 3 steps
If you can read a sale contract and a tax return, you can use this. Simple mode keeps to the questions that decide most of the answer. Advanced mode adds selling costs, capital losses, the contract date and how much of your lifetime limit is left.
Tell us about the sale
The sale price, the cost base, how long you owned it, the turnover, the net value of the assets, your age and your other income. We do not ask for your tax file number, your ABN, a bank detail or your name. The name on the report cover is optional.
See which conditions you meet, free
Every test in section 152-10 checked against the figure that decides it. Every legal combination named and explained in plain English, and what the concessions are worth to you. If a test fails, you see which one.
Unlock the full ranking
$19 opens the full report: every combination worked out to the dollar and put in order, so you can spot the costly one before your tax return is prepared. PDF included, ready to hand to your accountant.
Built on the actual tax law
Division 152 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, with Division 328 for affiliates and connected entities, Division 115 for the general discount, and the Income Tax Rates Act 1986 for the tax rates it all lands on.
Every step shown
No black box. Every figure in the report shows the maths behind it, and the report says plainly which measure it ranks on and what that measure cannot see.
Information, not advice. We say so.
We are not licensed to tell you what to claim, and we never do. We show you the maths. A registered tax agent can advise on your own facts when you are ready.
Money back if it can't model your sale
If the calculator cannot properly model your situation, or something goes wrong, tell us within 14 days and we will refund you. No forms, no argument.
Included with the report
Stuck on a figure?
Just ask the assistant.
Every report comes with an assistant that has read your report: your figures, your conditions, your combinations. Ask it anything about it and it answers in plain English, from your own numbers.
Ask Agent
Why is the top combination only $1,750 ahead of the second one?
Because the only difference between them is a rollover, and a rollover changes when tax is paid rather than whether. It splits the $72,000 that was still assessable into two income years instead of one, and two smaller amounts meet lower brackets than one larger one. That is worth $1,750 here. It also means buying a replacement business asset within two years, which the second combination does not.
What does "active asset reduction" actually mean?
It halves whatever is left of the gain after the general 50% discount. On this report that took $1,144,000 down to $572,000. The unusual thing about it is that it applies on its own. Nothing is claimed and no election is lodged, so turning it off is a deliberate choice, and three of the combinations on this report require exactly that.
An example of the kind of answer it gives, on the sample report's figures.
-
It answers from your report, not a script Why one combination beats another, what a section number actually requires, what would happen if the contract had been signed in July. It answers from your own figures and quotes them back.
-
Plain English answers on a tricky subject It is built for this one subject and told to explain, not impress. No abbreviation without its meaning, short answers, and no lectures.
-
Totally optional. Use it or ignore it. It sits behind one button on your report and does nothing until you press it. Nothing in the report is held back if you never open it, and nothing is sent anywhere unless you ask it something.
-
We never tell it who you are What it receives is the figures on your report: amounts and categories. Not your name, not your email address, not your account, and never a tax file number, an ABN or a bank detail, because we do not hold those. The name you can put on the report cover is optional and is not part of what it is given.
-
The conversation is not kept The conversation stays in your browser tab and is gone when you close it. We record that a question was asked so we know the feature is used, never what it said. Section 5 of the privacy policy sets out exactly what does and does not travel.
-
It explains the rules. It won't pick for you. It will tell you what the rules say, what each combination costs and where the figures come from. It will not tell you which one to claim, and neither does the report. Nothing here is tax advice.
Price
One price. One decision you only get to make once.
Pay once. No expiry, nothing to renew, and we never keep your card. It opens the whole report and lets you run the numbers again as often as you like: a new sale price, a different owner, or a contract signed either side of 30 June.
If it cannot model your situation, you get your money back.
If the calculator cannot properly model your situation, or something goes wrong, tell us within
14 days and we will refund you. No forms, no argument.
Prices in Australian dollars. Paid securely through PayPal: card or PayPal balance, no account needed. See a sample report before you decide.
FAQ
Small business CGT concessions: your questions answered
They are four tax breaks for small business owners, set out in Division 152 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997. The 15-year exemption disregards the whole gain. The 50% active asset reduction halves what is left. The retirement exemption exempts up to $500,000 over a lifetime. The small business rollover defers the rest for up to two years.
They sit on top of the general 50% CGT discount, which is a different thing again and applies to everybody. More than one can be claimed on the same sale, in a fixed order.
You qualify if you meet the basic conditions in section 152-10. First, either the business has an aggregated turnover under $2 million, or the net value of the CGT assets of you, your affiliates and your connected entities is $6 million or less. You only need one of the two.
The asset then has to pass the active asset test. Selling shares or units adds two further conditions. The free calculator answers every one of them on your own figures and names the one that fails when one does.
Yes, and it is the part almost nobody prices. The 50% active asset reduction applies automatically unless you choose out of it under section 152-205. Choosing out of it puts twice as much through the retirement exemption instead. That uses more of the $500,000 lifetime limit, but moves more of the proceeds into superannuation under a cap you only get once.
Neither is better in the abstract. This calculator prices both, and every other combination, on your own figures.
Yes. Amounts exempted under the 15-year exemption and the retirement exemption can be contributed under the CGT cap, which is separate from the ordinary non-concessional contributions cap and is $1,935,000 over a lifetime (the 2026-27 figure, which is indexed).
Under 55 it is not optional: a retirement exemption amount has to be paid into a complying superannuation fund. Both have their own deadlines, and the fund has to be told the contribution is being made under the CGT cap before or at the time it is made.
No. This is an information service: it applies the published rules to the figures you enter and shows what they produce, with every working visible. It ranks combinations on one stated arithmetic measure and does not recommend one.
Whether the conditions are met on your actual facts, and whether your records support them, are for a registered tax agent, who can advise on your own facts, or for the Australian Taxation Office through a private ruling.
Yes. It is 45% plus the 2% Medicare levy, which is -. A capital gain is part of taxable income, so the levy applies to it like anything else, and every figure in this calculator includes it.
Nothing in Division 152 changes a rate. Every one of the four concessions works by changing how much of the gain is assessable, and the rate scale then does what it always does. That is why your other income moves these figures as much as the concessions do.
The turnover limit is $2 million of aggregated turnover, not the $10 million figure used for other small business tax breaks. Aggregated means your turnover plus that of your affiliates and connected entities. The limit is written into the Act and is not indexed. If you fail it, you can still qualify through the $6 million net asset value test instead, because you only need to pass one of the two.
The 15-year exemption removes the whole capital gain from your tax return, with no dollar cap. To get it, you must have owned the asset for 15 years without a break. You must also be 55 or older on the day the contract is signed and sell in connection with retiring, or be permanently incapacitated at that time, at any age. It does not use any of the $500,000 retirement exemption limit, and it leaves your capital losses untouched.
No. Despite its name, the retirement exemption does not require you to retire or cut your hours. It exempts up to $500,000 of capital gains over your whole life, not per sale or per year. The one age rule is at 55: if you are under 55 when you make the choice, the exempt amount must be paid into a complying super fund. At 55 or over, you can take it as cash.
The 50% active asset reduction halves whatever is left of your capital gain after capital losses and the general 50% CGT discount. It applies automatically once you meet the basic conditions, with no form and no election. You can choose to switch it off under section 152-205, which puts more of the gain through the retirement exemption instead. On a $1,000,000 gain, the two halvings take it down to $250,000.
The whole deferred amount comes back as a capital gain. This is called CGT event J5, and it happens at the end of the replacement period, which runs from one year before the sale to two years after it. The general 50% discount cannot be used against that gain. The small business concessions can still be claimed against it, as long as the basic conditions are met at that time.
By the day you lodge the tax return for the income year the contract was signed in. That rule is in section 103-25. There is no form to send in: the choice shows in the way the return is prepared, so it cannot simply be added later. The retirement exemption choice must also be made in writing and state the amount you are exempting.
You get one shot at this. Make it count.
Your contract date is set. The owner on the title can't change now. What is still open is which mix of the four concessions goes into your tax return, and that door closes the day the return is lodged. There is no form to fix it afterwards. Three minutes now shows you what is riding on it.
No card. No sign up. Your answer in about three minutes.
Eight short steps. Every condition checked on your own figures, and every legal combination named.
Small business CGT concessions calculator
Most calculators tell you whether you qualify. This one prices what the order costs you: every legal combination of the four concessions, side by side, so you can see for yourself which one leaves the most.
Eight short steps, about three minutes. At the end you'll see which of the four concessions your sale qualifies for, what they are worth to you, and how far apart your options are.
Step 1
Just started
Figures as at -.
Your free result
What you qualify for, and what it is worth to you
Each condition, checked against your figures
How much tax you could save
Claim nothing and you could pay $0 more tax
That is the difference between claiming no concessions and the legal way of claiming that leaves you the most, on your own figures.
A tax adviser's written advice
$2,500 to $8,000
Extra tax if you claim nothing
-
The full report, right now
$19
Unlock your full report
Your login and receipt go to this address. It can be different from your PayPal email.
Secured by PayPal
14 day refund terms
Nothing renews
And you can ask it questions. Your report comes with an optional assistant that has read it and explains any figure in plain English. It is given the amounts on your report, never your name or your email, and the conversation stays in your browser.
If it cannot model your situation, you get your money back.
If the calculator cannot properly model your situation, or something goes wrong,
tell us within 14 days and we will refund you. No forms, no argument.
Not ready to decide?
Email this estimate to yourself, free
Your figures and this result, in one email you can forward to your accountant. It is your way back to this screen when you are ready.
Your estimate now, then three short follow-ups over the next week, and we stop. Unsubscribe in one click. We never sell your address.
Before your tax return is lodged
Qualifying is the easy half. Claiming it right is where the money is.
There are four small business CGT concessions. They stack, and one of them switches on whether you choose it or not. The mix that happens by default is not always the one that leaves you the most, and on a seven figure sale the gap can run to six figures. The full report prices every legal combination on your own figures, so what goes into your return goes in on purpose.
If it cannot model your situation, you get your money back.
If the calculator cannot properly model your situation, or something goes wrong, tell us
within 14 days and we will refund you. No forms, no argument.
See a sample report before you buy.
Questions people ask before buying
Yes, it is included, and using it is entirely your choice. It sits behind one button on your report and does nothing until you press it. Nothing in the report is held back if you never open it.
When you do ask it something, what it receives is the figures on your report: amounts and categories. Not your name, not your email address, not your account, and never a tax file number, an ABN or a bank detail. We do not hold those in the first place. The name you can put on the report cover is optional and is not part of what it is given. The conversation stays in your browser tab and is gone when you close it, and we record that a question was asked without recording what it said.
Section 5 of the privacy policy sets out exactly what does and does not travel, including who processes it.
No. You pay once and the access is yours. There is no subscription and nothing renews. PayPal handles the payment, so we never even see your card number.
No, and it is not built to be. Your accountant is the person who decides whether the conditions are met on your actual facts (who is an affiliate, what is a connected entity, what the assets were worth the day before the sale) and who signs the return. None of that is arithmetic, and none of it is here.
What this does is the arithmetic: every legal combination of the four concessions priced on your figures and put in order on one stated measure. Walk in with the numbers already done, as a PDF you can hand over, and the conversation starts at the part only your accountant can do.
Small Business CGT provides information, not financial product advice. We are not licensed to give personal financial advice, and we never tell you which option to pick. We apply the published rules to the figures you enter and show you what they produce, with every working visible. What you are actually assessed is determined by the Australian Taxation Office on the return you lodge, and every choice under Division 152 has to be made by the day that return is lodged. A registered tax agent is the person who signs off that the conditions are met on your facts, and the ATO can give a binding answer through a private ruling.
Unlock your full CGT concessions report
Pay once and see every legal way to claim, priced and ranked on your own figures, ready to hand to your accountant.
What's in your order
Total
$0.00
Your login and receipt go to this address. It can be different from your PayPal email.
Secured by PayPal
Pay by PayPal or card
No renewals
Worked examples
Small business CGT examples: 13 sales, every dollar worked out
Thirteen made-up Australian small business owners, with every figure worked out by the same engine a paying customer’s report uses. Nothing on this page is typed in. Change a threshold in the rules and every number here moves with it. The people are made up. The arithmetic is not.
First, two things nobody tells you
1
There are four concessions, not one
The 15-year exemption wipes out the whole gain. The 50% active asset reduction halves what is left. The retirement exemption exempts up to $500,000 over a lifetime. The rollover defers the rest while you buy a replacement asset. Three of them can be claimed on the same sale, one after the other.
2
One of them applies whether you choose it or not
The 50% active asset reduction happens on its own once the conditions are met. Nothing is claimed and no election is lodged. Turning it off is a deliberate choice, and it is sometimes worth more than leaving it on, because it puts twice as much through the retirement exemption instead.
Everything below is those two facts in real dollars, for thirteen different sales. Worked out on the current schedule.
None of these is you. So what is your number?
Your own figure turns on the size of the gain, how long you have owned the asset, your age, what else is in the return that year, what is left of your $500,000 lifetime limit, and who holds the title. Three minutes, and you will know yours.
Small Business CGT
The Small Business
CGT Concessions Report
Prepared for Marcus Dhillon
Your options, side by side
Every lawful way of claiming the concessions on this sale, and what each one leaves Marcus after tax. Same sale, same gain. The only difference is which concessions are claimed, and in what order. Open Show Details on any of them. They work on this page.
The short version
Everything in this report is compared on one figure: what the sale leaves you after tax. That is the sale price, less the costs of selling, less all the tax on the gain, including any a rollover puts off.
Leaves the most
$2,523,420
The 50% reduction, the retirement exemption, then the rollover
Claiming nothing leaves
$2,018,470
$529,530 of tax on the gain
Tax the concessions could save
$504,950
on a capital gain of $2,288,000
Marcus's tax rate on the next dollar is 32.0%. A capital gain has no tax rate of its own. It is added on top of his $110,000 of other taxable income, so parts of it are taxed at higher rates as it climbs the brackets. Every figure here allows for that.
He meets the basic conditions, through both the turnover test and the net asset value test. That gives him seven ways to claim on top of the general discount. Section 07 shows how much room he has left in each test.
Every way to claim, ranked
Ranked on one thing only: what the sale leaves after tax. The top row leaves the most. It is not a recommendation. What this ranking cannot take into account is listed at the end of the report.
| # | Combination | Taxed this year | Tax now | Tax put off | Leaves you | Less than the top |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The 50% reduction, the retirement exemption, then the rollover needs a replacement active asset |
$36,000 | $12,290 | $12,290 | $2,523,420 | - |
| 2 | The 50% reduction, then the retirement exemption | $72,000 | $26,330 | - | $2,521,670 | −$1,750 |
| 3 | The 50% reduction, then the rollover needs a replacement active asset |
$286,000 | $126,270 | $126,270 | $2,295,460 | −$227,960 |
| 4 | The 50% active asset reduction | $572,000 | $260,690 | - | $2,287,310 | −$236,110 |
| 5 | The retirement exemption, then the rollover needs a choice out of the 50% reduction |
$322,000 | $143,190 | $143,190 | $2,261,620 | −$261,800 |
| 6 | The retirement exemption on its own needs a choice out of the 50% reduction |
$644,000 | $294,530 | - | $2,253,470 | −$269,950 |
| 7 | The rollover on its own needs a choice out of the 50% reduction |
$572,000 | $260,690 | $260,690 | $2,026,620 | −$496,800 |
| 8 | Claim nothing beyond the general discount | $1,144,000 | $529,530 | - | $2,018,470 | −$504,950 |
Why the top two are only $1,750 apart. A rollover changes when tax is paid, not whether. Here it splits the $72,000 still taxed into two tax years, and two smaller amounts are taxed at lower rates than one big one. For a company, which pays one flat rate, a rollover is worth nothing.
How the gain comes down, step by step
The concessions apply in a set order, and each one works on what the one before it left. This is the way that leaves Marcus the most, one step at a time.
| Step | Amount | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| The capital gain | $2,288,000 | Capital proceeds less the cost base and the costs of selling. |
| General 50% CGT discount | −$1,144,000 | Division 115, and not one of the small business concessions. It goes first. |
| 50% active asset reduction | −$572,000 | Subdivision 152-C. It applies automatically unless it is deliberately turned off. |
| Retirement exemption | −$500,000 | Subdivision 152-D, against a lifetime limit rather than an annual one. |
| Deferred by the rollover | −$36,000 | Subdivision 152-E. Parked until a replacement active asset is acquired, or brought back as a capital gain if none is. |
| Assessable this year | $36,000 | What actually goes into the return for this income year. |
Your real tax rate on the gain
The total tax on the gain as a share of the whole gain, for every way to claim. A large gain runs through several tax brackets, so this is the clearest way to compare one option with another.
Under the way that leaves the most, the real rate is 1.1%. Claiming nothing gives 23.1% on the same gain. Both use 2026-27 income year tax rates and include the Medicare levy.
The concessions do not change tax rates. They change how much of the gain is taxed.
The basic conditions, checked on your figures
Every test that decides whether the concessions can be used at all, with the figure that decided it. Marcus meets all the ones he needs.
| Test | Marcus's figure | Verdict | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
| A capital gain on an eligible asset | $2,288,000 | Met | $2,600,000 of proceeds less a cost base of $260,000 and $52,000 of selling costs. |
| The $2,000,000 aggregated turnover test | $1,750,000 | Met | Turnover of the business plus any businesses connected with you or your close associates (affiliates). Under the limit passes. |
| The $6,000,000 maximum net asset value test | $5,400,000 | Met | What your business assets, and those of connected businesses, are worth just before the sale. Passing this test or the turnover test is enough. |
| The active asset test | 13 years of 13 years | Met | Used in the business for at least half the time it was owned, counted up to the sale or to when the business stopped. |
| The general 50% CGT discount | 50% | Met | Needs twelve months of ownership. It comes off first, before any small business concession. |
| The 15-year exemption | 13 years | Not met | Owned for 13 years. It needs fifteen years of unbroken ownership, and Marcus is 52 and not retiring. |
| The retirement exemption | $500,000 left | Met | Under 55, so any amount claimed has to be paid into super. It is tax free either way, but it is not cash in hand. |
| The small business rollover | 2 years | Met | Puts off tax on some or all of what is left while a replacement business asset is bought, within two years of the sale. |
You only need to pass one of the two entry tests. Failing the turnover test and passing the net asset test is a pass, so a business with more than $2,000,000 of turnover can still qualify.
Still locked: 5 more sections and 8 charts
- 07How much room you have in each test
- 08Where the money ends up
- 09Your $500,000 lifetime limit, and super
- 10What would change the answer
- 11Key dates for this sale
Everything above is real arithmetic on a made-up business. Run yours and this half opens on your own figures, with the PDF, the one page summary and a share link for whoever has to sign the return.
And you can ask it questions. Every report comes with an assistant that has read your report and explains any figure in it in plain English. Using it is entirely your choice, it does nothing until you press the button, and it is given the amounts on your report and never your name, your email or your account.
That is somebody else's sale. Yours takes about three minutes and costs nothing to check.
We could not find that link
The link may have been used already. If you still get emails, contact us and we will stop them.
Free guides
Small business CGT concessions guides, in plain English
Free guides to the small business capital gains tax concessions, written for the person selling the business, not the person preparing the return. Every threshold is the current one, every section is named so you can check it, and every sum is written out in full.
Reading helps. Knowing what your own sale is about to cost you helps more.
The four concessions
The small business rollover: delay the tax, but not forever
The only one of the four that does not exempt anything. It parks the gain until you buy another active business asset, and if you never do, it comes straight back - without a discount on it.
What does the small business rollover do?
Whatever is left of the gain after the concessions above it is set aside rather than assessed. Nothing is exempted and nothing is forgiven. The amount sits there until you acquire a replacement active asset, or make a capital improvement to one you already have.
The replacement asset period is generous at one end and unforgiving at the other: it runs from one year before the CGT event to two years after it, so an asset bought in anticipation of the sale can count.
Rolling over part of the gain, where the real value is
Section 152-410 lets you choose a rollover "for the capital gain, or part of it". The part is the whole point, and it is where the value actually lives.
Roll over everything and the same amount simply moves into one later income year. On the same other income and the same rate scale, that costs exactly what it would have cost this year - nothing is saved, only postponed.
Roll over half and the gain is assessed as two smaller amounts in two income years instead of one large amount in one. On a progressive rate scale two smaller amounts meet lower brackets than one larger one, and the difference is real money. On a company's flat rate it is worth precisely nothing, which is the correct answer and a good sanity check on the arithmetic.
The cheapest split is at a bracket edge, or at one of the two ends
Where the split should fall is a question with an exact answer rather than a rule of thumb. Between any two points where the marginal rate changes, the tax on an extra dollar is constant - so the total cost of a split moves in straight lines and the cheapest point is always at one of those edges, or at “all now”, or at “all later”. There are only a handful of them, and the calculator tries every one.
An even split is usually the answer and is not always. The low income tax offset raises the effective marginal rate while it is being withdrawn and then stops, so the rate falls where it runs out - and around that point splitting a gain in half can cost more than assessing all of it at once. On those figures the report defers nothing, because a rollover that leaves the reader worse off is not a tax outcome, it is an arithmetic error.
What can you buy as a replacement asset?
The replacement has to be an active asset in its own right - used, or held ready for use, in a business carried on by you, an affiliate or a connected entity. Buying a rental property with the proceeds does not hold a rollover, because an asset whose main use is to derive rent is specifically not an active asset. The active asset test guide sets out the test.
A capital improvement to an existing active asset counts too, which is often the easier route: a workshop extension, new plant, a fit-out.
What is CGT event J5, and why is it worse?
If the replacement asset period ends with nothing acquired, CGT event J5 happens on the last day of it and the whole deferred amount becomes a capital gain in that income year. CGT event J6 catches the narrower case where the replacement cost less than the amount that was deferred.
Here is the sting: section 115-25(3) excludes J2, J5 and J6 from being discount capital gains. The general 50% CGT discount is not available against the amount when it comes back. In practice the deferred amount has usually already had a discount applied on the way in, so it is not a double punishment - but a rollover taken on an undiscounted gain, by a company for instance, comes back at full weight.
The small business concessions can be claimed again against a J5 gain if the basic conditions are met at that time, which is a genuine second chance and worth knowing about before the window closes. The replacement asset period guide has the dates.
What is a rollover really for?
Two things, and neither is "saving tax" in the way the other three concessions do.
The first is timing. Splitting one large gain across two income years is worth money on a progressive scale, and it is worth more the larger the gain and the higher the other income.
The second is that it buys two years. Somebody who sells in a hurry and does not yet know whether they are buying another business can park the gain, decide properly, and still have the other concessions available against a J5 gain later if they change their mind.
The hidden cost of a rollover
An obligation you may not want. Buying a replacement business asset because the tax rules reward it is the tail wagging the dog, and a poor replacement asset costs more than the deferral saves. The report marks every combination that requires one, precisely so the obligation is visible rather than implied.
The calculator counts the two year window from your own contract date, so the deadline in the report is a date rather than a duration.
How much is a rollover worth on your sale?
The calculator prices every combination with and without one, and counts the two-year window from your own contract date.
Sign in
Sign in to see your saved reports and your full report access.
Create your account
It is free. Your reports are saved, so you never have to type your figures in again.
Reset your password
We will email you a link to set a new password. It works once and lasts an hour.
Choose a new password
Pick something you will remember.
Your details
Change your password
Full report access
Free view
Get the full report to see what every option costs you, in order.
Your passes
My reports
Your orders
About us
Why we built a small business CGT calculator
You have sold, or are about to sell, something you built. Somebody has mentioned the small business CGT concessions and possibly said the words “fifteen year exemption”. What you may not have been told is that there are four of them, that they stack, that one of them applies whether you choose it or not, and that on a seven figure sale the gap between the best and worst legal way to claim them can run to six figures. The decision is made once, in a tax return, by a set date, and it cannot be undone.
None of this is secret. It is Division 152 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, with the connected entity and affiliate rules in Division 328, the general discount in Division 115, the superannuation cap in section 292-100, and the rate scale in the Income Tax Rates Act 1986. All of it is published and all of it is free to read. Hardly anyone reads it. It is spread across five parts of an Act written for tax experts, nothing official shows how the four concessions work together in one place, and the tax rates it all lands on move on 1 July.
Small Business CGT does one thing: it applies those published rules to your figures and shows you, in full, what they produce. Every basic condition answered on the figure that decided it. Every legal combination of the four concessions priced, and all of them ranked on one stated measure. Every working visible, so you can check it, argue with it, or hand it to somebody who can.
We do not tell you what to do. We are not licensed to. What most people are missing is the arithmetic, not an opinion. Here is what a registered tax agent actually does on a Division 152 claim, and how an ATO private ruling works, if you decide you want one of those as well. We take no commission from either.
Privacy Policy
Short version: we hold as little as we can, we never ask for the identifiers that matter most, and the calculation runs on your own device. The long version is below, because you are entitled to it.
1. About this policy
This policy explains how XTO Pty. Ltd. (we, us, our) collects, holds, uses and discloses personal information, and how you can access, correct or complain about it. We handle personal information in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs).
It applies to calculatedchoices.com.au and to every email we send you. It does not apply to any third party site we link to.
2. What we never collect
We do not ask for, and you should never send us, your Medicare number, tax file number, tax file number, bank account details or card number. The calculator does not need them. If you send one to us anyway we will delete it rather than store it.
We do not collect sensitive information as defined in the Privacy Act - health information, racial or ethnic origin, political or religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or criminal record. Where the calculator asks about care needs it asks about funding categories, never about a medical condition.
3. What we collect, and why
Information you give us
- Account details - first and last name, email address, and optionally phone, suburb, state, postcode and your relationship to the person entering care. Used to create and secure your account and to deliver what you bought.
- Saved reports - the figures you entered and the results produced, stored against your account only if you choose to save one. Used so you can return to and compare them.
- Purchases - the order, amount, currency, access period and the PayPal transaction reference. Used to grant access, issue receipts and meet our tax and record keeping obligations.
- Correspondence - what you write to us and our reply. Used to answer you and to resolve disputes.
- Email estimates and reviews - the email address you give us to receive a free estimate, and any review you submit for publication.
Information collected automatically
- Technical data - IP address, browser user agent, device type, screen and viewport size, and the referring page.
- Activity data - the pages you open, the order you open them in, time spent on each, how far you scroll, which calculator steps you complete, and which buttons you press. Used to understand where the site is confusing and to improve it.
- Advertising identifiers - where you arrive from an advertisement, the click identifier appended to the link (for example Google's gclid) and any campaign parameters, so we can measure which advertising works.
4. Where the calculation happens
In your browser, on your device. The figures you type into the calculator are processed locally to produce your result. They are transmitted to us only if you choose to save a scenario to your account. If you never save one, we never receive them.
Two exceptions, and both are things you have to choose to do:
- If you ask us to email your free estimate, the headline figure that estimate produced is stored with your email address so the estimate we send you is the one you saw.
- If you use the optional report assistant, the figures in the report you have open are sent to us and on to the service that answers it. That is the only part of this site that sends anything to a third party, and section 5 sets out exactly what does and does not travel.
5. The report assistant
A paid report comes with an optional assistant you can ask questions about your own figures. It is the one part of this site that sends anything to a third party, so it is set out here in full.
It is entirely your choice, and it does nothing until you use it. Nothing is sent anywhere unless you open the assistant and ask a question. If you never open it, this section does not apply to you at all, and the rest of the report works exactly the same.
What is sent when you do ask
- A plain-text summary of the figures in the report you have open - the amounts, categories and comparisons the report already shows you on screen.
- The question you typed, and the questions and answers already in that conversation, so a follow-up makes sense.
What is not sent
- Your name. The name field on the calculator is optional and is used only on your own report cover. It is not part of what the assistant is given.
- Your email address, your account, your phone number or your street address. The assistant is not told who you are, and is given no way to find out.
- Your Medicare number, tax file number, tax file number, bank account or card details - we never hold these in the first place. See section 2.
What travels is a set of amounts and categories. On its own it does not identify anybody, and we do not send anything alongside it that would.
Who processes it
The request is answered by Google's Gemini API, which processes it outside Australia - see sections 10 and 11. We do not train any model on your figures and we have no arrangement permitting anyone to do so; what Google does with data sent to its API is governed by its own terms, which we do not control.
How long it is kept
- The summary of your figures is held in our server's memory for one hour so a conversation does not have to re-send it with every question, and is then discarded. It is never written to our database.
- The conversation itself is stored in your own browser tab and is gone when you close that tab. We do not keep a copy.
- We record that a question was asked, and how long it was, so we know whether the feature is used. We do not record what it said.
Because the assistant is optional, you can have the entire paid report without any of the above ever happening. Nothing in the report is withheld from somebody who never opens it.
6. Cookies and browser storage
We use the following, and nothing else:
- An authentication cookie - set only when you sign in, so you stay signed in. Strictly necessary.
- A guest identifier - so a scenario saved before you register can be attached to your account when you do.
- A session key (browser session storage) - identifies one visit for the activity data described above. It is a random value and is discarded when you close the tab.
- A visitor key (browser local storage) - a random value kept for up to twelve months so we can tell a returning visitor from a new one. It contains no personal information and is not shared with anyone.
- Preferences - your light or dark theme choice.
You can clear or block these through your browser at any time. Clearing them will sign you out and reset your preferences; the site will otherwise work normally.
7. Analytics and advertising
We use Google Analytics and Google Ads to measure how people find and use the site and whether our advertising is worth running. Where these are enabled, Google receives your IP address, device and browser information, the pages you viewed, and - when you complete a purchase - the order reference and the amount paid. Google may set its own cookies and may combine this with data it holds from other sources. Google's handling of that data is governed by its own privacy policy, not ours.
We do not sell your personal information, and we do not disclose it to data brokers, advertising networks other than as described above, the Australian Taxation Office, tax agents, accountants, superannuation funds, or anyone who might try to sell you something.
You can opt out of Google Analytics using Google's browser add-on, and you can adjust personalised advertising in your Google account settings.
8. Payments
Payments are processed by PayPal. Your card or account details are entered on PayPal's systems and are never transmitted to, seen by, or stored on our servers. We receive only the transaction reference, the amount, the status and the email address associated with the payment.
9. Who we disclose information to
- Service providers who host the site, send our email and process payments, and only so they can perform that function.
- Google, as described in sections 5 and 7.
- Professional advisers - our accountants and lawyers, under obligations of confidence.
- A purchaser of our business, if it is ever sold, on terms that require them to honour this policy.
- Law enforcement, courts or regulators, where we are required or authorised by law.
10. Overseas disclosure
Some of these providers store or process data outside Australia, principally in the United States (Google, PayPal) and, depending on our email provider, in other countries. By using the site you acknowledge that we take reasonable steps to ensure overseas recipients handle your information consistently with the APPs, but that we cannot control and are not accountable for how an overseas recipient handles it once disclosed, and that you may not be able to seek redress in that jurisdiction.
11. Security
The site runs entirely over HTTPS. Passwords are stored as salted PBKDF2 hashes, not as text anyone here can read. Access to the database is restricted to those who need it. No system is perfectly secure, and we cannot guarantee the security of information transmitted over the internet, but we take reasonable steps to protect it from misuse, interference, loss and unauthorised access, modification or disclosure.
If a data breach occurs that is likely to result in serious harm, we will notify you and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner as required by the Notifiable Data Breaches scheme.
12. How long we keep it
- Account and saved reports - until you delete them or ask us to.
- Order and payment records - seven years, as required by Australian tax law. We cannot delete these earlier, even on request.
- Activity data - up to twenty‑six months, then deleted or aggregated so it no longer identifies anyone.
- Email leads - until you unsubscribe, then only the record needed to honour that unsubscribe.
13. Direct marketing
If you give us your email address for a free estimate we may follow up about the full report. Every commercial email we send identifies us and carries a functional unsubscribe link, as required by the Spam Act 2003 (Cth). We action unsubscribes immediately. You will still receive transactional email - receipts, access details and password resets - because those are not marketing.
14. Accessing, correcting and deleting your information
Write to support@calculatedchoices.com.au. We will:
- give you access to the personal information we hold about you, or explain why we cannot;
- correct anything inaccurate, out of date, incomplete, irrelevant or misleading;
- delete your account and every scenario attached to it, subject to the retention periods in section 12.
We will respond within 30 days and will not charge you for making a request. We may need to verify your identity first.
15. Complaints
If you think we have breached the APPs, write to support@calculatedchoices.com.au with "Privacy complaint" in the subject line. We will acknowledge within 5 business days and respond substantively within 30 days.
If you are not satisfied with our response, you may complain to the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner: oaic.gov.au, 1300 363 992, or GPO Box 5288, Sydney NSW 2001.
16. Children
The site is intended for small business owners selling a business, a business asset, or shares and units in their own entity. It is not directed at children and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18.
17. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy. The effective date at the top changes when we do. Where a change is material we will tell you by email or by notice on the site before it takes effect. Continuing to use the site after that means you accept the updated policy.
18. Contact
Privacy Officer
XTO Pty. Ltd. (ACN [ACN NOT SET])
Level 1, 457 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010
support@calculatedchoices.com.au
Terms of Service
Plain English, because the whole point is that you understand it. Section 6 is the one that matters most - please read it before you rely on anything here.
1. Agreement
By using calculatedchoices.com.au (the site) or buying a pass you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, do not use the site. In these terms we, us and our mean XTO Pty. Ltd.; you means the person using the site or, where you use it on behalf of another person or an entity, both you and that person or entity.
2. Eligibility
You must be at least 18 and legally able to enter a contract. The site is intended for use in Australia and applies Australian law and Division 152 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 and the published income tax rates only. If you use it from outside Australia you do so on your own initiative and are responsible for local compliance.
3. What this service is
Small Business CGT is an information and calculation service. It applies Division 152 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 and the published income tax rates to figures you supply and reports what those rules produce, showing its workings and naming the fee schedule used.
4. What it is not
It is not financial product advice, personal advice, legal advice, tax advice, accounting advice or tax advice, and it is not a recommendation to acquire, dispose of or deal in any financial product.
- We do not hold an Australian Financial Services Licence and are not authorised representatives of any licensee.
- We do not know your full circumstances, objectives, financial situation or needs, and nothing produced by the site takes them into account.
- Where the report ranks options it does so on a single arithmetic measure that deliberately ignores everything a number cannot capture - health, family circumstances, tax position, estate planning, whether a concession is available on your particular facts, and what actually matters to you.
- We receive no commission and have no relationship with any registered tax agent, accountant, solicitor, buyer or superannuation fund.
You should obtain independent, licensed advice before acting. Any decision you make is yours.
5. Accuracy and estimates
We take considerable care to keep the rates current and the formulas right, and every report prints the schedule it was built on. Even so:
- All output is an estimate based on the figures you entered. If those figures are wrong, incomplete or out of date, the output will be too.
- What you are actually assessed is determined by the Australian Taxation Office on the return you lodge, and every choice under Division 152 has to be made and recorded by the day that return is lodged. A registered tax agent is the person who signs off that the conditions are met on your facts. Those prevail over anything the site produces.
- Rates, thresholds and caps change by legislation and indexation, and legislation can change without notice or retrospectively.
- Projections rely on assumptions about the future - investment returns, indexation, home values, length of stay - which are inherently uncertain and will not be accurate.
Always confirm before you act.
6. Your responsibility for decisions
You acknowledge and agree that you are solely responsible for evaluating the output, for verifying it against official sources, for obtaining independent professional advice, and for every decision you make or do not make. We are not your adviser and no fiduciary or advisory relationship arises from your use of the site.
7. Accounts
You are responsible for keeping your password confidential and for everything done under your account. Tell us immediately at support@calculatedchoices.com.au if you suspect unauthorised use. We may suspend or close an account we reasonably believe is being used in breach of these terms.
8. Passes, price and payment
- A pass grants access to the full report from the moment payment is confirmed, and it does not expire. It does not renew and nothing is charged automatically. There is no subscription and no card is kept on file.
- Prices are in Australian dollars and include GST where applicable. We may change prices at any time; the price shown when you buy is the price you pay.
- Payment is processed by PayPal under its own terms. We do not receive your card details.
- A pass is for personal or single household use. It is not transferable and may not be shared, resold or used to provide a service to others.
9. Reports you export
A report you export as a PDF or otherwise save remains yours to keep and to show to family, an adviser or a registered tax agent. That licence is personal and non‑commercial. It does not permit republication, resale, or use as part of a product or service you provide to others.
10. Refunds
Our promise: if the calculator cannot properly model your circumstances, or something has gone wrong, write to us within 14 days of purchase and we will refund the pass. No form and no argument. We would rather refund you than have you rely on a number that does not fit.
This is a voluntary commercial guarantee offered in addition to, and it does not limit, your rights under the Australian Consumer Law. Refunds are made to the original payment method within five business days of us accepting the request.
11. Acceptable use
You must not:
- scrape, crawl, harvest, mirror or systematically extract the site or its content;
- attempt to access the paid report engine, any account, or any data without authorisation;
- reverse engineer, decompile or attempt to derive the source of any part of the service;
- interfere with the site's operation or security, or impose an unreasonable load on it;
- resell, sublicense or commercially exploit the service or its output;
- use the site to provide financial, legal or placement advice to third parties; or
- use it unlawfully, or to infringe anyone's rights.
12. Intellectual property
All content, code, calculation methodology, report design, text and branding on the site is owned by us or licensed to us and is protected by copyright and other laws. Legislated rates and government data are not owned by anyone; our expression, arrangement and implementation of them is. Nothing in these terms transfers ownership to you.
13. Availability
We aim to keep the site available but do not guarantee it will be uninterrupted, timely, secure or error free. We may modify, suspend or discontinue any part of it, and may perform maintenance, at any time. If we permanently discontinue the service while your pass is running, we will refund the unused portion.
14. Third parties
The site relies on third party services including PayPal, Google and our hosting and email providers, and links to third party sites and government resources. We are not responsible for those services or sites, their availability, their content or their terms.
15. Australian Consumer Law
Our goods and services come with guarantees that cannot be excluded under the Australian Consumer Law. For major failures with the service, you are entitled to cancel your service contract with us and to a refund for the unused portion, or to compensation for its reduced value. You are also entitled to be compensated for any other reasonably foreseeable loss or damage. If the failure does not amount to a major failure, you are entitled to have problems with the service rectified in a reasonable time and, if this is not done, to cancel your contract and obtain a refund for the unused portion of the contract.
Nothing in these terms excludes, restricts or modifies any consumer guarantee, right or remedy conferred by the Australian Consumer Law or any other law which cannot lawfully be excluded, restricted or modified. If any part of these terms would do so, that part does not apply.
16. Limitation of liability
Subject always to section 15, and to the maximum extent permitted by law:
- the site and its output are provided "as is" and "as available", and we exclude all warranties, conditions, guarantees and representations not expressly set out in these terms, whether express, implied, statutory or otherwise, including as to accuracy, fitness for a particular purpose, merchantability and non‑infringement;
- we are not liable for any indirect, incidental, special, punitive or consequential loss, or for any loss of profit, revenue, savings, opportunity, goodwill, data, anticipated benefit, or for any loss arising from a decision made or not made in reliance on the site, however arising and whether in contract, tort (including negligence), statute or otherwise, even if we were advised of the possibility;
- our total aggregate liability to you for all claims connected with the site or these terms is limited, at our election, to resupplying the service or to refunding the amount you actually paid us in the twelve months before the claim arose; and
- where liability cannot be excluded but can be limited, it is limited as set out above.
You agree that this allocation of risk is reasonable given the price of the service and that the service is information rather than advice.
Our liability is reduced to the extent your loss is caused or contributed to by you, including by entering incorrect figures, by failing to verify output against official sources, or by failing to obtain independent advice.
17. Indemnity
To the maximum extent permitted by law, you indemnify us against any claim, loss, liability, cost or expense (including reasonable legal costs) arising from your breach of these terms, your misuse of the site, or your provision of the site's output to a third party who relies on it. This does not apply to the extent the claim arises from our own breach, negligence or wilful misconduct.
18. Termination
You may stop using the site at any time. We may suspend or terminate your access immediately if you breach these terms. Sections 4, 5, 6, 9, 12, 15, 16, 17, 19 and 20 survive termination.
19. Privacy
Our Privacy Policy forms part of these terms and explains how we handle personal information.
20. Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of New South Wales, Australia. You and we submit to the non‑exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of New South Wales and the courts entitled to hear appeals from them.
21. General
- Changes. We may amend these terms. The effective date changes when we do, and material changes will be notified by email or on the site before they take effect. The terms in force when you bought a pass govern that purchase.
- Severability. If a provision is unenforceable it is read down to the minimum extent necessary, or severed, without affecting the rest.
- Waiver. A failure to enforce a right is not a waiver of it.
- Assignment. You may not assign these terms without our consent. We may assign them on a sale of the business.
- Entire agreement. These terms and the Privacy Policy are the entire agreement between us about the site.
22. Contact
XTO Pty. Ltd. (ACN [ACN NOT SET])
Level 1, 457 Elizabeth Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010
support@calculatedchoices.com.au