Some brokers give you “free” or reward shares when you sign up, deposit funds or complete certain actions.
This guide shows how to record those in Navexa so your performance and CGT are calculated correctly.
Quick note: Navexa cannot give personal tax or financial advice. The examples below are general only.
Always confirm the tax treatment with your accountant if you are unsure.
1. How Navexa treats gifted or reward shares
For tax and performance tracking, gifted shares are usually treated as if you bought them at market value on the date you received them.
In Navexa you record this as:
A Buy trade on the gift date
A Sell trade when you later sell the shares
If your broker did not charge brokerage on the gift, you enter 0 brokerage on the Buy.
2. Step 1 – Work out the details of the gift
From your broker statement or activity history, note:
Stock code (for example AAPL, TSLA)
Market (for example NASDAQ)
Gift date
Quantity received (often a small or fractional amount)
Price per share at the time of the gift
Brokerage (often 0 on the gift)
If your broker does not show a price for the gift, your accountant can help you decide what value to use as your cost base.
3. Step 2 – Enter the gifted shares as a Buy in Navexa
You will need to manually add this holding or trade to reflect this, as it won't be automated. See Add a Holding Manually or How to Manually Add a Buy or Sell Trade to a Holding for help.
In Navexa, open the relevant Portfolio.
Go to Portfolio → Holdings and click the holding, or create the holding if it does not exist.
Open the Trades tab.
Click Add → Buy.
Enter:
Trade Date: the date the shares were gifted
Price: the market value per share on that date
Quantity: the number of shares or fraction received
Brokerage: usually 0 for a gift
Save the trade.
Navexa will now treat this as your cost base for future performance and CGT calculations.
4. Step 3 – Enter the later Sell
When you sell the gifted shares:
Stay on the same holding’s Trades tab.
Click Add → Sell.
Enter:
Trade Date: the date you sold the shares
Price: the actual sale price per share
Quantity: the number of shares sold
Brokerage: any fee charged on the sale
Save the trade.
Navexa will calculate your gain or loss using:
Sale proceeds minus cost base from the earlier Buy, minus sale brokerage.
5. Worked example – Gifted US shares then sold
Imagine your broker gives you a small amount of Apple, and you later sell it.
Gift
Stock: AAPL (Apple)
Market: NASDAQ
Gift date: 10 March 2025
Quantity: 0.10 shares
Market price on that date: 200.00 USD
Brokerage on gift: 0.00 USD
Navexa Buy trade
Type: Buy
Date: 10/03/2025
Price (USD): 200.000
Quantity: 0.10
Brokerage: 0.00
Cost base is 20.00 USD.
Sale
Sale date: 20 July 2025
Quantity sold: 0.10 shares
Sale price: 230.00 USD
Brokerage: 0.30 USD
Navexa Sell trade
Type: Sell
Date: 20/07/2025
Price (USD): 230.000
Quantity: -0.10
Brokerage: 0.30
Navexa will then show:
Sale proceeds: 23.00 USD
Cost base: 20.00 USD
Less brokerage: 0.30 USD
Capital gain: 2.70 USD (before any FX effect)
If your portfolio is in AUD, Navexa will convert these amounts using its FX rates for the trade dates.
6. Multiple gifts in the same stock
If your broker gives you the same stock more than once, you can either:
Enter one Buy trade per gift, keeping the exact dates and prices, or
Combine gifts on the same date into a single Buy with the total quantity.
Keeping them separate gives the most accurate CGT history, especially if you do partial sells later.
7. Things to double-check
Before you rely on the figures:
The dates in Navexa match the dates on your broker statement
The quantities (including fractions) match
Brokerage is correct on any sale
The price you use for the gift is acceptable to your tax adviser
If anything changes later, you can always edit or delete the trades on the holding’s Trades tab.