Sale of Shares example - automatically minimise capital gains

In this example, you purchased 800 shares at the initial float of Woolworths (WOW) in 1993. Subsequently you participated in the Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRP), resulting in purchases of small share parcels twice every year.

Here's what the purchase history looks like >>
Date Event Total # parcels # shares
20/07/93 Buy 800 @ $2.45 ea $1,960.00 1 800
30/11/93 DRP 16 @ $2.95 ea $47.22 2 816
29/04/94 DRP 17 @ $2.89 ea $49.06 3 833
30/11/94 DRP 19 @ $2.60 ea $49.49 4 852
28/04/95 DRP 19 @ $2.72 ea $51.72 5 871
17/11/95 DRP 24 @ $2.90 ea $69.50 6 895
26/04/96 DRP 22 @ $2.87 ea $63.03 7 917
12/11/96 DRP 28 @ $2.58 ea $72.33 8 945
24/04/97 DRP 20 @ $3.22 ea $64.38 9 965
15/10/97 DRP 22 @ $3.94 ea $86.66 10 987
24/04/98 DRP 15 @ $5.35 ea $80.18 11 1002
16/10/98 DRP 17 @ $5.18 ea $87.99 12 1019
30/04/99 DRP 18 @ $4.77 ea $85.85 13 1037
29/10/99 DRP 20 @ $5.18 ea $103.70 14 1057
28/04/00 DRP 21 @ $5.03 ea $105.70 15 1078
05/10/00 DRP 21 @ $6.67 ea $140.14 16 1099
27/04/01 DRP 17 @ $7.76 ea $131.88 17 1116
05/10/01 DRP 11 @ $10.98 ea $120.78 18 1127
30/04/02 DRP 10 @ $12.40 ea $124.05 19 1137
08/10/02 DRP 13 @ $11.59 ea $150.66 20 1150
30/04/03 DRP 13 @ $11.77 ea $153.00 21 1163
03/10/03 DRP 16 @ $11.33 ea $181.23 22 1179

Now, you sell 300 on 5/1/0/03, at $11.50 per share. How should this be recorded?

With Topshare it's easy. On the third page of the Sell Form (after specifying the date, company sold, broker, amount etc) you're shown a list of all the shares available to be sold >>

All you need to do is fill in the number of shares sold (300) in the box on the top left of the form. That's it!

Instantly, the optimum way of selling these from the shares available is shown in the table >>
Furthermore, the overall position - net proceeds, capital gains and predicted tax assessment - is now shown in the summary box on the form's bottom right >>
You might be a little surprised that the optimum isn't quite what you might have predicted. No shares are sold from some of the older parcels, because they were purchased at relatively low prices, and would have realised higher capital gains - for example those purchased on 30/11/94 (at $2.60 each) and 28/4/95 (at $2.72 each).

Also, the most recently-bought shares were generally sold - see the table, now shown as scrolled to the bottom >>

This is because recently-bought shares were purchased at a relatively high price, and the total CG liability is less - even those bought within the last 12 months, despite the fact that they trigger the highest rate of capital gains assessment!!

Of course, you have complete control over this process. For example you can automatically maximise the CG liability; or, in a further alternative, you can also directly input the number of shares sold.