--- title: "CGT and Tax Valuations for Sydney Businesses" url: https://businessvaluationssydney.com.au/services/cgt-and-tax-valuation/ description: "Independent market valuations for capital gains tax and the small business CGT concessions, for Sydney owners and accountants. No tax advice given." updated: 2026-11-15 --- # Market valuations for capital gains tax, for Sydney owners and their accountants. ## Your fixed fee - Your fee is put in writing first and does not move with the value. - A second valuer checks each report before signing. - The working file stays on record for ten years. - The report carries the name of the valuer who [signs it](https://businessvaluationssydney.com.au/about/). When a tax rule asks what a business, a shareholding or a unit was worth on a particular day, your accountant needs a figure that can be supported. We supply the valuation. Your accountant supplies the tax advice. Fee guide Under $2 million of turnover: $1,495 + GST, signed report in 2 business days. $2 million to $3 million of turnover: $2,495 + GST, signed report in 3 business days. $3 million to $10 million of turnover: $3,495 + GST, signed report in 3 business days. Above $10 million we quote the fee in writing and agree the delivery date with you first. Delivery time starts once payment and all required information have been received. Get my fixed fee[See every fee](https://businessvaluationssydney.com.au/fees/) - $1,495 + GST The fixed fee where turnover is below $2 million, put in writing before we begin - 2 business days From payment and complete information to a signed small-business report - 32 York St Our Sydney office, in the CBD. Most of the work is done from your documents and a call - 10 years How long the working file behind each report is kept Delivery time starts once payment and all required information have been received. A tax valuation says what a business, or a parcel of shares or units in one, was worth on the open market on the day a tax rule looks at. For capital gains tax that is usually the day of a sale, a transfer or another CGT event. Accountants across Sydney ask for one when the price paid may not be the market value, when a client wants to use the small business CGT concessions, or when an asset moves within a family or a group. We provide the value and the evidence for it. Whether and how a tax rule applies is for your accountant. ## When a tax calculation needs a market value Most of the time tax is worked out on the price that was actually paid. A valuation is needed when the law looks past that price, or when there was no price at all. The common cases are: - Nothing was paid, as when shares are given to a member of the family - Buyer and seller did not deal with each other at arm’s length, so the price may differ from market value - A test depends on what assets were worth just before a sale, as the small business CGT concessions do - An asset has been held for many years and its value at an earlier date now matters - A business is moving into a new structure and the law compares values before and after The signed report is $1,495 + GST where turnover is below $2 million, ready in 2 business days, and $2,495 + GST from $2 million to $3 million, ready in 3 business days. Delivery time starts once payment and all required information have been received. Get my fixed fee[See every fee](https://businessvaluationssydney.com.au/fees/) ## What the ATO looks for in a valuation What makes a valuation acceptable for tax? The ATO’s guide on market valuation gives a plain answer: what usually counts is how the valuation was carried out, more than who carried it out. The guide adds that Australia has no official body that admits business valuers, and that the taxpayer remains responsible for the figure even after engaging a professional. That is a good reason to want the workings on paper. The same guide lists what it expects to find in a valuation report, as a minimum. The list is a long one. It includes these, and our reports cover each of them: - The purpose and scope of the valuation - Details of the asset being valued - The valuation date - The information relied on - The approaches and methods chosen, and why - Who the valuer is, and their qualifications - A declaration of independence ## The valuation date comes from the tax rule A tax valuation is only as good as its date. What a company was worth the day before it signed a large contract is not what it was worth the day after. The date is set by the rule your accountant is applying, usually the time of the CGT event, and it is the first thing we confirm with you. Many tax valuations look backwards. The event happened last year, or ten years ago, and the figure is needed now. A retrospective valuation uses what was known at the time, not what happened later, and the report names the records from that time it relied on. The reverse does not work. A value cannot be struck at a date that has not arrived, and the ATO’s guide says it will not treat an assessment made ahead of time as reasonable. ## The small business CGT concessions The small business CGT concessions apply to capital gains on small business assets where the conditions are met. One way to qualify is the maximum net asset value test. It adds up the net value of the CGT assets held by the taxpayer, by connected entities and by affiliates, measured immediately before the sale or other CGT event. The total has to come to $6 million or less, and the ATO notes that the limit is not indexed. Net value is worked out from market values. So an owner who is near the line needs the business interests valued, not estimated. The other main way to qualify is as a CGT small business entity, which is a test of aggregated turnover against a $2 million threshold and not a test of asset values (section 152-10). A note to that section says the threshold is disregarded for one of the concessions, the small business 50 per cent reduction, so which test applies to a sale is a question for your accountant. Which entities and assets are counted, and which are left out, is for your accountant. Our part is the market value of the business interests on the right day. ## What you receive, and where our work stops The report is signed. It gives the market value on the date your accountant has named, the method and the reason for choosing it, the evidence relied on, and every assumption and limit. Before it goes out, a second valuer goes through it. We hold the working file for ten years, so a question asked long after the tax return was lodged can still be answered. We are not registered as a tax agent, and we do not say whether a concession, a roll-over or any other rule applies to you, and nothing in the report is tax advice. That separation is deliberate: the valuation stays independent of the advice it supports. In New South Wales ## A Commonwealth tax, with two things worth knowing in New South Wales. Capital gains tax is a Commonwealth tax, so the rules described above are the same for a business in Parramatta as for one anywhere else in the country. Two points are particular to this state. ### The same transfer can also raise NSW duty A transfer of shares, units or business assets that needs a market value for capital gains tax can also be looked at by Revenue NSW for duty, under separate rules with their own tests. A valuation scoped for one purpose is not automatically right for the other, so tell us at the start if both are in play. ### Where a tax dispute is heard in Sydney The Equity Division of the Supreme Court of NSW has a Revenue List. The proceedings that may be entered in it include those in which the Commissioner of Taxation or the Chief Commissioner of State Revenue is a party. The Federal Court also has its NSW registry in Sydney, in the Law Courts Building at Queens Square. Our fixed-fee report is written to support a tax position, not as expert evidence for a court. ## What the valuer will ask you for. Nothing is needed to ask for your fee. Once you go ahead, these are the records we usually ask for, sent through our secure client portal. - The rule your accountant is applying, and the valuation date it calls for - What is to be valued: the whole business, particular shares or units, or particular assets - Financial statements and tax returns for at least three years up to the valuation date - Management accounts from as close to the valuation date as possible - The company constitution or trust deed, and the share or unit register - Any contract, offer or sale of the business or its shares near the valuation date - For a past date, the budgets or forecasts that existed at that time - Your accountant’s details, if you would like us to deal with them directly ## Tax and CGT: questions we are asked. ### What does the ATO expect of a business valuation? A sound process, written down. Its guide on market valuation says that what usually matters for tax is the way a valuation was carried out, more than who did it, and that the taxpayer stays responsible for the figure whoever prepared it. Among the contents the guide expects in a report are the purpose, the asset, the date, the information relied on, the methods, the valuer’s qualifications and a declaration of independence. Our reports cover each of them. ### Can you value my business as at a date in the past? Yes. Many tax valuations are for a date that has already gone, sometimes by years. The report works from the records that existed then, such as the accounts, contracts and forecasts of the time, and does not use hindsight. Each past date is agreed with you when you engage us, and it is helpful to know early which records from that period still exist. ### Can you value my business as at a date in the future? No. A market value can only be struck at a date that has already passed, because it depends on what is known on the day. The ATO’s guide on market valuation says it will not treat an assessment made for a date still to come as reasonable. If a future event will need a valuation, the work is done once that date has arrived. ### What is the maximum net asset value test? It is one of the ways to qualify for the small business CGT concessions. The net CGT assets of the taxpayer, connected entities and affiliates are added up as they stood immediately before the event, and the total must be $6 million or less. Each asset goes in at market value, with related liabilities taken off. Your accountant decides which assets and entities are counted. We value the business interests that go into the sum. ### Will you tell me whether I qualify for a concession? No. That is tax advice, and we are not a registered tax agent. We give your accountant the market value of the business, the shares or the units on the date the rule looks at. Your accountant applies the test and advises you on the result. Keeping the two apart is what makes the valuation independent. ### What does "market value" mean for tax? Where a tax provision does not give the words a meaning of its own, they carry their everyday meaning. The ATO says the main guides are the principles in case law and those of the International Valuation Standards Council. In plain terms it is the price a buyer and a seller would settle on at the valuation date, each of them willing, informed and under no pressure, dealing at arm’s length. Valuations that often sit beside this one - [Restructure and related-party transfer valuations in Sydney](https://businessvaluationssydney.com.au/services/restructure-and-related-party-valuation/) - [Business valuations for NSW duty](https://businessvaluationssydney.com.au/services/nsw-duty-valuation/) - [Estate and probate valuations in Sydney](https://businessvaluationssydney.com.au/services/estate-and-probate-valuation/) - [Every valuation service](https://businessvaluationssydney.com.au/services/) Where in Sydney - [Sydney CBD](https://businessvaluationssydney.com.au/areas/sydney-cbd/) - [North Sydney and the North Shore](https://businessvaluationssydney.com.au/areas/north-sydney-and-north-shore/) - [Parramatta and Western Sydney](https://businessvaluationssydney.com.au/areas/parramatta-and-western-sydney/) - [Eastern Suburbs](https://businessvaluationssydney.com.au/areas/eastern-suburbs/) - [Inner West and South Sydney](https://businessvaluationssydney.com.au/areas/inner-west-and-south-sydney/) - [Northern Beaches](https://businessvaluationssydney.com.au/areas/northern-beaches/) ## Where the rules on this page come from This page describes the rules in general terms. It is not legal, tax or duty advice: your lawyer or accountant advises on how a rule applies to you. - [Market valuation for tax purposes (guide)](https://www.ato.gov.au/law/view/document?DocID=SGM/market_val&PiT=99991231235958), Australian Taxation Office - [Market valuation of assets](https://www.ato.gov.au/individuals-and-families/investments-and-assets/capital-gains-tax/market-valuation-of-assets), Australian Taxation Office - [Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, section 116-30 (market value substitution rule)](https://www.ato.gov.au/law/view/document?docid=PAC/19970038/116-30), ATO legal database - [Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, section 152-10 (basic conditions; CGT small business entity)](https://www.ato.gov.au/law/view/document?docid=PAC/19970038/152-10), ATO legal database - [Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, section 152-15 (maximum net asset value test)](https://www.ato.gov.au/law/view/document?docid=PAC/19970038/152-15), ATO legal database - [Maximum net asset value test](https://www.ato.gov.au/businesses-and-organisations/income-deductions-and-concessions/incentives-and-concessions/small-business-cgt-concessions/small-business-cgt-concessions-eligibility-conditions/maximum-net-asset-value-test), Australian Taxation Office - [Standards glossary (definition of market value)](https://ivsc.org/standards-glossary/), International Valuation Standards Council - [Equity Division practice notes (SC EQ 10, Revenue List)](https://supremecourt.nsw.gov.au/practice-procedure/practice-notes0/equity-division-practice-notes.html), Supreme Court of NSW - [Contact the NSW registry](https://www.fedcourt.gov.au/contact/registries/nsw), Federal Court of Australia Ask a valuer ## Tell us about the business. A few lines is enough. A valuer replies within one business day with the package that fits, your fixed fee in writing and a delivery date. Small Business Valuation $1,495 + GST The package for turnover below $2 million: a signed report in 2 business days. Delivery time starts once payment and all required information have been received. Larger than that? The fee steps up with turnover. [See every fee](https://businessvaluationssydney.com.au/fees/) Page last reviewed on 15 November 2026. Business Valuations Sydney, 32 York Street, Sydney NSW 2000. Signed reports from $1,495 + GST. One fixed fee, in writing, before work starts. Get my fixed fee --- Business Valuations Sydney · 32 York Street, Sydney NSW 2000 · https://businessvaluationssydney.com.au/start/