Australia: Legislation amending capital gains tax and introduce new tax reform measures passes Parliament, with amendments
Other tax measures in legislation include negative gearing restrictions and new tax offsets for individuals.
The legislative package to amend the capital gains tax (CGT) discount, restrict negative gearing in housing to new builds, and introduce a working Australians tax offset and an AU$1,000 standard deduction for work-related expenses for individuals, has passed Parliament with amendments.
The package, comprised of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Bill 2026 and its imposition bill, Income Tax Rates Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Bill 2026, replaces the 50% CGT discount for individuals, trusts and partnerships with cost base indexation to ensure only real gains are subject to taxation and introduces a 30% minimum tax on capital gains (with an exemption for certain income support recipients), effective for all capital gains accruing on and after July 1, 2027, including gains accruing on pre-CGT assets.
Bill to implement loss carry back, make permanent small business instant asset write-off referred to Senate committee
In addition, the lower Parliament (House of Representatives) has referred the bill that seeks to implement a loss carry back tax offset for corporate tax entities that are not significant global entities and permanently extend the AU$20,000 instant asset write-off for small businesses (Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 2) Bill 2026) to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee for inquiry. Read TaxNewsFlash
The Committee is expected to deliver a report on the bill by August 13, 2026.