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Tax Deductions When Selling a Brisbane Property 2026

Most Brisbane sellers know they need to talk to an accountant before they sell. Fewer know which specific costs actually reduce their tax and what records they need to keep to prove it.

This article is a practical overview for Brisbane property sellers. It is not tax advice, and the rules that apply to your specific situation depend on factors that only a registered tax agent who knows your circumstances can assess properly. What it does is give you a working understanding of how the tax system treats selling costs, so you can have a more useful conversation with your adviser before you go to market.

"Tax deductions" and "cost base" are not the same thing

Most people use "tax deductions" loosely to mean anything that reduces the tax they pay. When selling an investment property, the relevant mechanism is usually not a deduction against income but an addition to the cost base of the asset. The distinction matters because it changes which costs are relevant and when.

Under Australian tax law, when you sell a capital gains tax (CGT) asset, your capital gain is the difference between the capital proceeds (what you received) and the cost base (what the asset cost you). Any legitimate cost base component reduces that gap, which reduces the gain, which reduces the tax payable on the sale. Calling these costs "deductions" is technically imprecise but practically useful, because the financial effect is the same: less of the sale proceeds end up being taxed.

For owner-occupiers who have lived in their home the entire time they owned it, the full main residence exemption generally removes any CGT liability regardless of what the property cost or what the sale costs were. In that situation, these cost base rules are irrelevant. They become highly relevant when the exemption does not fully apply: investment properties, properties that were rented out for part of the ownership period, and homes where a home office deduction was claimed.

Incidental costs of disposal: what reduces your capital gain at sale

When you sell, a specific category of costs called incidental costs of disposal can be added to the cost base of the property. These reduce the capital gain directly. The main ones Brisbane sellers encounter are:

Real estate agent commission. This is typically the largest single selling cost and the most straightforward to claim. Agent commission in Brisbane's inner east generally runs between 1.5% and 3% of the sale price. On a $1.5 million sale that is $22,500 to $45,000, all of which reduces your assessable capital gain. Keep the invoice from your agent and the settlement statement showing the deduction from proceeds.

Conveyancer or solicitor fees for the sale. The legal costs of processing the sale, preparing the contract, and managing settlement are incidental costs of disposal. These are distinct from the legal costs you paid when you bought the property (which are also part of the cost base, covered below). Keep invoices from your solicitor or conveyancer for both transactions.

Advertising and marketing costs. Vendor-paid marketing costs, meaning costs you paid as the seller to advertise the property, are claimable. In Brisbane, a typical inner-east campaign includes portal listings, professional photography, floor plans, and sometimes print or digital advertising. These costs are usually deducted from the settlement proceeds; the settlement statement will show them. If you paid them directly, keep the invoices.

Auctioneer fees. If the property sold at auction, the auctioneer's fee is an incidental cost of disposal separate from agent commission. Keep the itemised invoice.

Valuation fees for the purpose of selling. If you paid for a formal valuation specifically to assist with the sale, for example to establish a realistic reserve price or to inform your pricing strategy, that valuation fee is claimable. A valuation obtained for another purpose, such as a bank refinancing valuation, is not.

What you paid to buy the property also reduces your gain

The cost base is not just the sale costs. It includes everything you paid to acquire the property in the first place. Many sellers underestimate the cost base because they focus on the sale side and forget what they spent on purchase years earlier. The acquisition costs that are typically included are:

Transfer duty (stamp duty). In Queensland, the buyer pays transfer duty. This forms part of the cost base of the property from the moment of purchase. For an investment property bought at $700,000 in Queensland, transfer duty was approximately $24,525 at standard rates, all of which adds to the cost base.

Legal fees on acquisition. The conveyancing and solicitor fees you paid when you bought the property are incidental costs of acquisition. These can be substantial for complex purchases. If you have lost the original invoices, your conveyancer may be able to provide a copy, or your bank records may show the payment.

Buyer's agent fees. If you used a buyer's agent to find and negotiate the purchase, their fee is an incidental cost of acquisition that adds to the cost base.

Building and pest inspection fees paid at acquisition. The inspection fees you paid before you bought are incidental costs of acquisition and part of the cost base, even though you paid them before you owned the property.

Capital improvements made during ownership

If you made capital improvements to the property during the time you owned it, those costs also form part of the cost base. A capital improvement is something that adds to the value or extends the useful life of the property: a new extension, a bathroom renovation, a kitchen rebuild, a new roof structure, or retaining wall works. These are distinct from repairs and maintenance.

Repairs and maintenance work differently. If the property was used to produce rental income, repairs and maintenance costs were deductible against that rental income in the year they were paid. Because they have already provided a tax benefit, they cannot also be added to the cost base. The same cost cannot reduce both your rental income tax and your capital gain.

The line between a repair and a capital improvement is not always obvious. Replacing a broken tile is a repair. Replacing the entire bathroom floor with a new material is likely a capital improvement. Repainting the interior is a repair. Adding a room is clearly capital. If you are uncertain how to classify a renovation you completed, your registered tax agent can help you work through the distinction based on the facts.

What does not reduce your capital gain

Brisbane sellers sometimes expect to claim costs that do not actually form part of the CGT cost base. The most common ones are:

Holding costs claimed against rental income. If the property was rented out, costs like council rates, water rates, insurance, property management fees, and loan interest were deductible against rental income in each year they were incurred. Because those deductions have already been taken, they cannot also be added to the CGT cost base. They have already provided their tax benefit.

Property styling and staging costs. The cost of styling a property for sale is not an incidental cost of disposal under the CGT rules. For an investment property, styling costs may be deductible as a rental income deduction in the year of sale if the property was still rented up to that point, but the position is not always clear-cut and depends on the facts. Do not assume styling is a CGT cost base item.

Loan discharge fees. If you pay a fee to discharge your mortgage at settlement, that fee relates to the loan, not to the disposal of the property. It generally does not form part of the CGT cost base, though specific circumstances can vary.

The 50% CGT discount on top of all of this

If you have owned the investment property for more than 12 months, only half of the net capital gain is included in your assessable income. This 50% discount applies after you have calculated the gain using the cost base. In practical terms, this means that rebuilding an accurate cost base is doubly valuable: every dollar you add to the cost base reduces your gain by a dollar, and the 50% discount then halves the remaining gain that is taxable. A well-documented cost base and the 12-month discount together mean that two people who sold the same investment property at the same price could have very different tax outcomes depending on how carefully they have tracked their costs.

Records you need to keep

The ATO can review your CGT position for five years from the date you lodge the tax return for the year of sale. You need to be able to substantiate every component of your cost base. The records to keep are:

• The original contract of sale when you purchased the property
• Settlement statements from both the purchase and the sale
• Solicitor and conveyancer invoices from both transactions
• Building and pest inspection invoices from acquisition
• Buyer's agent invoice if one was used
• Capital improvement invoices (builder, contractor, council approval costs)
• Agent commission invoice and marketing cost invoices or settlement statement deductions
• Valuation invoices if any were obtained for sale purposes
• Depreciation schedules if you claimed building allowance or plant and equipment depreciation, because these reduce the cost base over time

Depreciation is worth a specific note. If you have been claiming depreciation on the building structure (2.5% per year for properties built after 1987) or on plant and equipment such as appliances and carpets, those deductions reduce the cost base over time under the ATO's rules. Your tax agent will need the original depreciation schedule and a record of the amounts claimed each year to calculate the adjusted cost base correctly. If you have not been claiming depreciation but the property was eligible, that is a separate conversation to have with your tax agent about whether it is worth amending prior returns.

When to talk to a registered tax agent

If the full main residence exemption applies to your sale because the property has been your home the entire time you owned it, you likely do not need specialist tax advice before selling. The exemption removes the CGT liability, and the cost base discussion above is not relevant to your situation.

If the property was ever rented out, used for business, or not your main residence for any part of the ownership period, getting advice from a registered tax agent before you sign the contract is worth the cost. The timing of your settlement date can affect which tax year the gain falls into, which can have a material impact on your tax position depending on your other income in those years. That is a decision that needs to be made before exchange, not after.

Bring your records to that conversation. An agent who can reconstruct your full cost base from day one will consistently produce a better tax outcome than one who works from incomplete records and has to make conservative assumptions.