CGT-Aware Portfolio Rebalancing for Australian Investors
Most portfolio trackers tell you what to rebalance. Crowdfolio shows you what each way of rebalancing would cost in capital gains tax, parcel by parcel, before you place a trade.
What is CGT-aware rebalancing?
Standard portfolio rebalancing simply compares your current allocation to your target and tells you to buy or sell enough to close the gap. CGT-aware rebalancing goes one step further: before you sell, it models the tax cost of each available parcel and ranks them by the size of the capital gain each would realise — or a capital loss that can offset other gains.
For Australian investors, this matters because:
- Selling a parcel held less than 12 months incurs CGT at your full marginal rate
- Selling a parcel held 12+ months qualifies for the 50% CGT discount
- Selling a loss-making parcel can offset gains elsewhere in your portfolio
- From 1 July 2027, the 50% discount is replaced by cost base indexation — this is law, not a proposal (what changed and when)
How Crowdfolio handles it
Crowdfolio logs every parcel you’ve ever bought across all accounts. Hit rebalance and it gets to work:
- Drift detection: compares your current allocation to your model portfolio and identifies which positions are over/under weight.
- Sell candidate ranking: for each over-weight holding, ranks your parcels by estimated CGT cost (ascending).
- Rebalance plan: generates a specific buy/sell plan showing units to trade, which parcel, and estimated CGT per trade.
- 2027 scenario: shows the CGT difference if you execute trades before vs after 1 July 2027.
Supported tax lot methods
- FIFO (First In, First Out) — oldest parcels sold first
- LIFO (Last In, First Out) — newest parcels sold first
- Specific parcel selection — choose exactly which parcel to assign to each sale
- Tax cost shown — Crowdfolio shows the projected CGT for each parcel-selection method
Frequently asked questions
What is CGT-aware portfolio rebalancing?
CGT-aware rebalancing means looking at the capital gains tax cost of each holding you could sell, not just how far each weight has drifted from target. It prices the tax on every candidate parcel before you place a trade.
How is Crowdfolio different from Sharesight for rebalancing?
Sharesight prices a sale you nominate. Crowdfolio starts from the gap between your holdings and your target, and prices the set of trades that would close it, with the capital gains tax on each parcel attached.
Does Crowdfolio use FIFO, LIFO, or specific parcel selection?
Crowdfolio supports FIFO, LIFO, and manual specific parcel selection. The rebalancing preview shows the projected CGT for FIFO, LIFO and specific parcel selection, and defaults to the method with the lowest projected figure.
Start rebalancing CGT-smart
Import your parcels from a broker CSV or enter them by hand, then see your first CGT-aware rebalance. Free to get started.
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