Private ruling: Capital gains tax - cost base of shares
Published: June 2012
Ruling period: Year ending 30 June 2011
Date scheme commenced: 1 July 2010

Ruling: Question and answer | Is the first element of the cost base of your portion of a number of shares in company Y $X per share? | Yes.

Relevant facts and circumstances: You inherited a portion of a holding of shares in company Y. You have records evidencing the cost base of most of the shares but not all of them. Your research shows that the cost would have been with a particular range and you from your research $X is the first element of your cost base of each share.

Relevant legislative provisions: Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 subsection 128-15(2)) | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 subsection 128-15(4))

Reasons for decision: Summary: A beneficiary is taken to have acquired an asset on the day the person died even though legal ownership of the asset passes to them at a later time (subsection 128-15(2)) of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997. If a deceased person acquired an asset on or after 20 September 1985, the first element of the cost base or reduced cost base of the asset, in the hands of their beneficiary, is taken to be the cost base or reduced cost base of the asset, in the hands of the deceased, on the date the person died (subsection 128-15(4)) of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997. The Commissioner accepts your research and agrees that the first element of the cost base for each of the shares is $X.

Please check this edited version to be sure that there are no details remaining that you think may allow you to be identified. If you have any concerns about this ruling you wish to discuss, you will find our contact details in the fact sheet.