Australian Tax Workspace

​

Overview

The Australian Tax Workspace helps Australian organisations review investment income, franking credits, foreign tax offsets, capital gains, foreign exchange results, state taxes, and an estimated tax position for one entity and financial year at a time. The Australian tax landing page lists every company, trust, individual, or other entity in the organisation. Choose Open latest or select a financial year on an entity card to open that exact workspace. Each card also shows the latest workpaper status, such as Draft, Ready for review, or Reviewed. The workspace includes only investments and transactions assigned to the selected entity. It is a review workspace, not a final tax return. Compare the figures with your source documents and speak with your tax adviser before filing.

​

Before you start

Before relying on the figures, check that:

• The country is set to Australia.
• The correct entity and financial year were selected from the Australian tax landing page.
• The entity’s Australian business number, taxpayer type, and state or territory are correct in Entity settings.
• Each investment is assigned to the entity that owns it.
• Investment domicile and transaction currency are complete.
• The reporting currency and financial year-end are correct.

Owners and admins can change entity settings in the Entity settings tab. The Australian business number is only shown to those roles.

​

Working with several entities

Changing the tax entity or financial year updates the page address and reloads the workspace using only that entity’s records. The entity landing page is the group-level summary: it shows all entities and their latest workpaper status without combining their calculations. This helps prevent income, credits, losses, or capital gains from being mixed between legal entities. The selected entity is included in the page address, making it easier to return to or share the correct workspace with another member who has access to the organisation.

​

What the summary shows

The workspace brings together:

• Australian and overseas dividend income.
• Recorded and applied franking credits, plus supported foreign tax offsets.
• Interest income.
• Capital gains and losses, including supported CGT discounts.
• Realised foreign exchange gains and losses.
• Federal tax, Medicare levy where selected, tax offsets, and PAYG credits.
• State and territory taxes entered from assessment notices or adviser workpapers.
• An estimated combined amount payable or refund.

The headline figure is an estimate. Individual Medicare levy reductions, beneficiary trust assessments, special company rules, and other circumstances may change the final amount.

​

Complete the entity-year workpaper

Open Overview and complete the saved workpaper inputs that apply to the selected entity and year. These include:

• Other assessable income not held in the investment ledger.
• Deductible expenses.
• Capital and revenue losses brought forward.
• PAYG credits.
• An adviser-provided foreign tax offset or tax rate override, when required.
• Company, residency, Medicare levy, franking credit, and foreign exchange assumptions.

Use a tax rate override only when your accountant or tax adviser has prepared a rate for the entity. Leaving the field blank uses the standard estimate for the selected taxpayer type and year. Save the workpaper as Draft while it is being prepared. Change it to Ready for review when the records and inputs have been checked. Organisation owners and admins can mark it Reviewed. The workpaper displays its revision, last saved time, and reviewed time so preparers can confirm they are using the latest version. Reviewed workpapers are read-only for members; an owner or admin can reopen or update them when a correction is required. The liability bridge uses only the franking credits and foreign tax offsets that can be applied in the estimate. If a company has excess franking credits, or recorded foreign tax exceeds the supported offset, the workspace shows an action item instead of treating the excess as an automatic cash refund. Confirm the final treatment with your adviser.

​

Review capital gains

Open Income & CGT to review each supported disposal. The schedule shows the recorded gain or loss, the proportion that may qualify for the CGT discount, losses applied, the discount, and the resulting net capital gain. Acquisition dates are matched to disposal units using the recorded transaction history. If units cannot be matched, the workspace shows an action item. Check those items against broker statements, registry records, transfers, corporate actions, and prior workpapers before relying on the discount. Capital losses are applied before the CGT discount. The schedule uses losses against non-discount gains first, which will often give the lowest net capital gain. Any unused amount is shown as a carried-forward capital loss.

​

Review foreign exchange

Open FX & state to review realised foreign exchange results. The saved workpaper lets you choose whether the ledger’s foreign exchange split is shown separately or retained in the capital result. Confirm this choice with your adviser. Settlement timing, foreign currency accounts, elections, and the taxation of financial arrangements rules can change the correct treatment. If the taxation of financial arrangements rules apply, the workspace shows that a separate specialist schedule is required.

​

Record state and territory taxes

The state tax schedule includes land tax, payroll tax, duties, and other state taxes. Enter amounts from assessment notices or adviser workpapers for the selected entity and year. These amounts are not estimated from investment values or transactions because ownership grouping, thresholds, exemptions, and notice dates differ. Use the link in the schedule to open the selected state or territory revenue authority. Add assessment references and review notes to make the schedule easy to trace.

​

Tax minimisation review

The Tax minimisation tab explains how recorded discounts, losses, deductions, and offsets have reduced the estimate. It also highlights profile, foreign exchange, and state-tax checks that may affect the result. These are review prompts, not recommendations to buy, sell, or restructure an investment. Confirm any action with your tax adviser before proceeding.

​

Audit and export

Open Audit & logic to see the calculation bridge from ledger income through to the combined tax position. The audit trail records the source and explanation for each important amount, while data-quality checks identify missing or inferred information. Select Download workpaper to create an Excel workbook containing:

• The tax summary and liability bridge.
• Income, capital gains, foreign exchange, and state tax schedules.
• Saved assumptions and review notes.
• Calculation logic, data-quality checks, and source guidance.

Use the downloaded workbook for accountant review, reconciliation, and filing support. Keep it with the source documents for that entity and year. Review the underlying transactions and tax records whenever a figure is incomplete or does not match your workpapers. The workspace supports review and preparation; it does not lodge a tax return or replace professional advice.