How to track your share portfolio in Australia

• Keep each contract note, dividend statement and fund tax statement.
• A spreadsheet is fine for a few holdings bought once. It gets hard with partial sales, DRPs and overseas shares.
• Watch total return, not just the price, and look at your capital gains before 30 June each year.

For each purchase and each sale:

• The trade date (the date on the contract note, not settlement). It decides the financial year and the 12 months for the CGT discount.
• The code and the market, such as VAS on the ASX or AAPL in the US.
• Units, price per unit and brokerage, GST included.
• For overseas shares, the exchange rate on the day, so everything can be put in Australian dollars.

And over time:

• Dividend statements, with any franking credits and reinvested shares.
• Each ETF or managed fund's annual tax statement, which can change your cost base.
• Notices of share splits, consolidations, returns of capital and takeovers.

The ATO asks you to keep the records for five years after the financial year you sell, so a share bought twenty years ago needs its purchase records until five years after the year of the sale.

Your broker's app

Fine for seeing today's value. But it only shows what you hold with that broker, it may not show sales from earlier years or what you paid before a transfer in, and its tax report covers only its own trades.

A spreadsheet

Free and flexible. One row per trade, with columns for date, code, buy or sell, units, price, brokerage and currency, works well for a few holdings you bought once and still own. It starts to strain when:

• you sell part of a holding bought at different times, and need to work out which purchases were sold;
• you need the 12-month test on each purchase separately;
• a DRP adds a new purchase every six months;
• you hold overseas shares and need a day's exchange rate on each trade;
• an ETF statement changes the cost base, or a share splits;
• prices need updating by hand or by a formula that breaks.

A portfolio tracker

A tracker built for Australian tax keeps the same list of trades, then does the matching, the 12 months, the exchange rates and the prices for you. Check that it supports the markets you use, that you can get your trades in without retyping them, and that you can download your records if you leave.

• Market value: what everything is worth at the latest price.
• Cost base: what you paid, brokerage included. The gain is measured from it.
• Gain not yet sold: market value less cost base on what you still hold. Not taxed until you sell.
• Capital gains for the financial year: from your sales, after losses. This is what goes on your tax return.
• Dividends: cash paid, plus franking credits.
• Total return: growth plus dividends, the real measure of how an investment has done. See how to measure your portfolio's return.
• Allocation: how much is in each investment and each type, so you can see where you are concentrated.

1. When you trade, record it the same day from the contract note.
2. When a dividend or DRP statement arrives, check it against what you expected.
3. Each quarter, compare your units for each holding with your broker or registry statement.
4. In June, look at the year's capital gains so far, before the year closes.
5. In August or September, when the fund tax statements arrive, add them and then do your tax return.

Do I need a separate tracker for each broker?

No, and it is better not to. Your capital gains are worked out per person across every broker. See investing with more than one broker.

Should I track super and cash too?

If you want your net worth, yes. They are taxed differently, so keep them apart from the shares whose gains go on your own return.

Is a tracker safe to give my details to?

Look for one that never asks for your broker login and can't trade or move money. A tracker only needs your trades.

Portfoli.au is a share portfolio tracker built for Australian tax. Upload the file from your broker, forward your contract notes to a private email address, or type trades in. It values shares, ETFs and crypto at each day's closing price, works out your cost base and capital gains for each financial year, and estimates dividends. It never connects to your broker, and you can download everything at any time.

Getting started, or start free for up to 12 ASX shares and ETFs.

• ATO, Acquiring CGT assets (updated 22 June 2026)
• ATO, Exchange traded funds

Check with a registered tax agent before you act.

• Investing with more than one broker: HINs and custodians, moving shares between brokers, and one set of records at tax time.
• How to measure your portfolio's return: Simple gain, total return, yearly returns that allow for money added, and a fair benchmark.
• Capital gains tax on shares in Australia: When you pay tax on selling shares or ETFs, how the gain is worked out, and what to do with a loss.
• How ETFs are taxed in Australia: Distributions, the annual tax statement, cost base changes, and selling units.
• All guides, and help with using Portfoli.au.
• Capital gains calculator: work out the gain on one sale, free.
• Dividend calculator: estimate dividend income with franking credits, free.