Share records you must keep to complete your tax return

When it comes down to it, the person responsible for keeping up-to-date and accurate records of your shareholdings for the tax department is you. That’s right, whether you complete your own return or work with an Accountant or Tax Agent (adviser), the buck stops with you.

In Australia, for example the ATO requires that*:

You must keep the following share records:

• Your acquisition and disposal statements (your 'buy' and 'sell' Trade Confirmations) - keep these records for five years from the date you dispose of your shares
• Your dividend statements - keep these records for five years from 31 October or, if you lodge later, for five years from the date you lodge your tax return.

You will receive most of the records you need to keep from:

• The company that issued the shares
• Your stockbroker or online share trading provider
• Your financial institution, if you took out a loan to buy the shares.

Source: Australian Government Australian Taxation Office website. View the ATO’s full explanation of records you need to keep.

No matter how organised you are, that’s a lot of paperwork for you to manage and store, and a lot of data for your adviser to sift through and enter into the appropriate forms. So that means work for you and your adviser, and subsequently, cost for you.

The good news is that Sharesight updates and maintains all of these records for you. Once you set up a portfolio in Sharesight then all you need to do is arrange for your broker to send Trade Confirmation Emails to that portfolio, and your trades will be automatically recorded - with the appropriate trade confirmation attached to each trade! From then on all your dividends (franked and un-franked amounts), current share prices, and any relevant corporate action information affecting your earnings are automatically updated in Sharesight. Everything you need is ready to give to your adviser and ready for tax time!

The other good news is that you can share your Sharesight portfolio with your adviser so that they can access all these records and data when they need them as well. This means that they are confident that your records are accurate, spend less time entering data, and, have more time available to consult with you regarding any capital gains on shareholdings. This saves your adviser a lot of frustration and helps you achieve your best tax outcome!

It may be that your Accountant or Tax Agent is already using Sharesight. We have a Professional Edition of Sharesight that allows advisers such as Accountants, Bookkeepers, Tax Agents and Financial Planners to administer client share portfolios. If you would like your adviser to learn more about Sharesight please ask them to visit Sharesight Pro.

FURTHER READING

• 3 ways Sharesight helps investors at tax time
• 7 reasons why Sharesight is better than a spreadsheet
• How your broker’s performance numbers mislead you