The 30 June 2027 CGT reset: what business owners need to know

Australia's capital gains tax rules are changing, and the change lands on a single date: 30 June 2027.

What is actually changing

The Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Act 2026 abolishes the 50% CGT discount for individuals, trusts and partnerships for CGT events on or after 1 July 2027. In its place comes CPI indexation and a minimum tax rate on post-reform gains.

Critically, there is a transitional deemed reset: assets held at 30 June 2027 are treated as having a market value at that date, so that gains can be split into a pre-reform portion (taxed under the old rules) and a post-reform portion (taxed under the new ones).

Why this matters for a private business

If you own shares in a private company, or business assets, the split between pre- and post-reform gain depends on the market value of those assets at 30 June 2027. Get that value wrong — or fail to document it defensibly — and you risk paying more tax than you should, or having the position challenged later.

The catch: there are far more business owners who need a valuation than there are qualified valuers to prepare them. Waiting until mid-2027 is a queue nobody wants to be in.

What a defensible valuation needs

A valuation that survives scrutiny by the ATO — or, if it ever came to it, a magistrate — is not a number on a letterhead. It records:

• the purpose and basis of value, and the effective date
• the method used and why it was chosen
• the evidence and assumptions behind every input
• the identity and signature of an independent valuer

That evidence pack is what makes the figure reconstructable years later. Reproducibility is defensibility.

What to do now

1. Get an indicative range so you understand the ballpark and what drives it.
2. Tidy the things that a valuer will look at anyway — clean financials, documented add-backs, clear ownership.
3. Engage early for a compliance-grade valuation dated 30 June 2027, well before the deadline crush.

This article is general information, not tax or legal advice. Speak to your adviser about your specific circumstances.