A table of 54 events
How many ways can Australian law produce a capital gain? The Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 answers in section 104-5, a summary table of CGT events running from A1 to L8. In the compilation in force on October 1, 2026, the table holds 54 of them, with no G2, J3 or L7 in the numbering.
The list is exhaustive. Section 102-20 says a person can make a capital gain or loss “if and only if a CGT event happens,” and the gain or loss is made at the time of the event.
Most of the 54 concern trusts, leases, shares, company groups and roll-overs. For someone holding coins, the event that keeps coming up is A1.
Event A1, disposal
Section 104-10 says A1 happens when you dispose of a CGT asset, meaning ownership passes from you to another entity. The time of the event is when the contract for the disposal is made or, without a contract, when ownership changes. A gain arises if the capital proceeds exceed the asset’s cost base, and a loss if they fall short of its reduced cost base.
Australian exchange Swyftx shows how that applies in its capital gains guide. Bitcoin bought for $10,000 and later exchanged for 10 ether, when the bitcoin was worth $20,000, “is a CGT event,” it says, measured in Australian dollars at both ends.
C2 handles endings that are not a transfer to someone else. It covers intangible assets whose ownership ends by redemption, expiry or surrender, among other ways.
Timing and the discount
The date of the event decides more than the tax year. Section 115-25 holds the 12-month test, and only an asset acquired at least that long before the event can give a discounted gain.
The size of the discount now carries a deadline. In the October 2026 compilation of the Act, section 115-100 gives individuals 50% for a CGT event that happens before July 1, 2027.
After that, section 110-36(1A) indexes the cost base of resident individuals for assets held at least 12 months, and section 112-155 treats their assets held through June 30, 2027 as sold just before July 1 and bought back straight after, at market value unless an apportioning method is chosen.
A move that is no disposal
The mistake is to treat every change on paper as an event. Section 104-10(2) says a change of ownership does not occur if you stop being the legal owner of an asset but continue to be its beneficial owner, so A1 does not happen.
Elsewhere the same idea goes by other names, a taxable event for the IRS and a disposal for HMRC.
The list comes first
What if two events seem to fit? Section 102-25 says to use the more specific one, and D1 and H2 only come in when nothing else does. The first step in Australian capital gains tax is a lookup in that table of 54.
Only a general explanation, and not tax advice.