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What is the difference between Tax Optimisation and Advanced Tax Optimisation?

Understand how Basic and Standard differ for Australian tax optimisation, and when you might need the extra control in Standard.

Updated over a week ago

Short answer

Both Basic (Tax optimisation) and Standard (Advanced tax optimisation) give you the same core Australian tax reports.

You can generate ATO ready CGT and income reports on both plans, and you can run those reports using the standard CGT strategies.

The difference is in the level of control and modelling you get in Standard.


What you get on Basic (Tax optimisation)

On Basic, you can:

  • Track your portfolio and generate ATO ready CGT and income reports each year

  • Use the standard CGT strategies (FIFO, LIFO, Minimize Gain, Maximize Gain) in your CGT report

  • Set a default CGT strategy at portfolio or holding level and run your reports under that strategy

For many individual investors this is enough. You get clean, compliant EOFY numbers without needing to manage parcels manually.


What you get on Standard (Advanced tax optimisation)

On Standard, you get everything in Basic, plus extra tools for planning and fine tuning your CGT outcomes.

Standard adds:

Unrealised Capital Gains report

See what your CGT would look like if you sold today. The report shows:

  • Unrealised gains and losses by holding

  • Which parts are discountable and non-discountable

This is useful for planning possible sales before you actually trade.

Manual parcel selection (specific identification)

When you record a sell trade, you can:

  • Pick the exact buy parcels you are selling against

  • Line up with ATO specific identification rules

  • Fine-tune the CGT outcome for particular sells

This is helpful if you or your accountant want very precise control over which parcels are realised.

Extra planning views

Standard also includes extra reports that help with cashflow and tax planning across the year, not just at EOFY. These make it easier to answer questions like “What happens if I sell this parcel instead of that one?”


Do you need Advanced tax optimisation?

A simple way to decide:

  • If you have one portfolio, do a handful of sells per year, and mainly want accurate ATO ready reports, Basic is usually enough.

  • If you or your accountant want to actively plan which parcels to sell, or run “what if I sold this instead of that” scenarios before you trade, Standard is the better fit.

On the free trial, you can use the Demo portfolio and your own data to explore both the core tax reports and the advanced tools. That way you can see whether Basic or Standard feels right for where you are in your investing journey.

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