Investing/Tradning the US stockmarket tax questio

[thesuperman]

If you invest/trade the US stockmarket, how do you work out the purchase price & sale price? I'm presuming that you will need to keep track of the AUD/USD exchange rate on the date of purchase & sale date, or would you calculate on the date you transfer the funds to your brokerage account (but this could be many days/weeks earlier)?

What about if you bought 2 different parcels of the same stock on different days & different prices (say $1 & $2 for the 2nd parcel) then sold only 1 parcel later on (say $3). Do you pick yourself saying if it's the 1st or 2nd parcel sold, of course to your advantage.

Another question, would all trades held more than a year get the 50% CGT discount while any trades below a year be taxed at your marginal tax rate?

 

[The Falcon]

To your first question, mine is pulled from aud acct and converted at bank rate, the exchange rate used is on trade confirmation. Second question ;https://www.ato.gov.au/General/Capi...entifying-when-shares-or-units-were-acquired/

And lastly yes, CGT treatment same as any other non exempt asset.

 

[datto]

Would the tax office know that one is trading in US stocks? I wonder? They can't even tackle the multi billion dollar black economy in Oz.!

 

[redwing]

Would the tax office know that one is trading in US stocks? I wonder? They can't even tackle the multi billion dollar black economy in Oz.!

The GST just boosted the Black Market, just like it did in the UK

Australia. According to the World Bank, the underground economy here makes up about 15 per cent of GDP ? but that figure is disputed by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which reckons it?s more like 2 per cent. The problem is that identifying an accurate measure is tough since the underground economy is, you know, underground.

Link

Always a topic of interest

Tradies that offer cash discounts, shops that have loose change for milk and other perishable items, bakeries/lunch bars that operate with either a till, or a loose cash box depending on how you pay etc etc etc...

Labor estimates that the black economy has ballooned out to $100 billion per year. What are your experiences with the black market since the introduction of the GST? Please keep responses short, to the point and free of abuse.

This topic is now closed - this is what you said.

 

[datto]

If there was no black economy I'd say the budget would quickly be in the....well...black!

Yet all govt seem unable to diminish the black economy.

The GST has failed. Maybe they should bring back the old PPS system. Remember that..lol..what a joke. Oh, then there was the RPS system . ha.

 

[Paul@PFI]

Would the tax office know that one is trading in US stocks? I wonder? They can't even tackle the multi billion dollar black economy in Oz.!

You feel you know the answer? Truth is Australia and USA share much tax data both ways. Brokers info in USA is shared with Ato. The IRS hand it to them.

 

[datto]

You feel you know the answer? Truth is Australia and USA share much tax data both ways. Brokers info in USA is shared with Ato. The IRS hand it to them.

Maybe they share some information but is that information acted upon? I imagine there would be no TFN with US brokers, so imagine how difficult it would be to track the taxpayer. They could only go after the big fish...but they have clever tax lawyers.......who make people chase their tails for years.

 

[thesuperman]

To your first question, mine is pulled from aud acct and converted at bank rate, the exchange rate used is on trade confirmation. Second question ;https://www.ato.gov.au/General/Capi...entifying-when-shares-or-units-were-acquired/

And lastly yes, CGT treatment same as any other non exempt asset.

You are saying that your funds sit in AUD until you make a trade then once the trade goes through it's converted to $US which gets shown on the trade confirmation?

If everything gets converted from AUD to $US when you fund the account, I presume that you would then need to work out the exchange rate on the date when the stock was bought then on the day it was sold??

CGT treatment - so you would need to examine each trade to see if it's held for more than a year. Those trades held more than a year 50% CGT discount & the others less than a year would be classed as normal income.

How do people keep track of all this? Seems very time consuming & difficult to track, especially if making lots of trades.

 

[The Falcon]

Portfolio Management Service from a full service broker takes care of all of that stuff. Depends what your time is worth I suppose viz. record keeping. I think I pay $350 pa per Portfolio (2 x Trust & SMSF). I used to think it was a rip, but as my number of holdings grow I am seeing the value in it!