- For CGT, market value is usually needed at the date of the event, which is often months or years before anyone asks for a valuation.
- The ATO expects a valuation to rest on information known, or reasonably foreseeable, at the valuation date.
- Later events, such as a big contract won the following year, are generally left out unless they could have been foreseen at the time.
- Dated records from the time do most of the work: accounts, management reports, customer lists, contracts and board or family papers.
- Your accountant or tax adviser decides which date and which asset the tax rules need valued; the valuer independently values it.
Why so many CGT valuations look backwards
The CGT rules often need the market value of an asset at the time an event happened. That event is usually behind you by the time anyone thinks about a valuation. Common examples:
- shares or units gifted to family, or sold to a related entity, months or years ago
- a business or shares inherited, valued at the date of death
- a move overseas, valued at the day you stopped being an Australian resident
- a value at 8 May 2012 for people who were foreign or temporary residents then
- a business restructured, and the records of what was moved now need support
In each case the tax return may already be lodged, or due. The accountant needs a supportable figure at a date that has passed.
The hindsight rule in plain words
Market value at a past date is the price a willing but not anxious buyer and seller would have agreed on that day. Both are assumed to know what the market knew then. Neither knows the future.
The ATO's market valuation guidance says a valuation should be based on the most relevant and reliable information that is known, or could reasonably be foreseen, at the valuation date. It also lists reliance on information from after the valuation date, and on events that could not reasonably have been foreseen, as a common problem it finds in valuations.
So, for a valuation at 30 September 2022:
- the accounts to 30 June 2022 and the trading to September 2022 are in
- a budget the business had prepared by September 2022 is in, weighted for how reliable it was
- a major customer lost in 2024 is out, unless the risk was already known in 2022
- a sale of the business in 2025 is generally out as direct evidence; if the valuer mentions it at all, the report explains why and what changed in between
Leaving hindsight out works in both directions. A business that later boomed is not valued at its later level. A business that later failed is not marked down for problems nobody could see at the time.
What makes a past-date valuation stronger
The best evidence is evidence created at the time, for reasons that had nothing to do with tax. That includes:
- financial statements and tax returns for the years around the date
- management accounts or bookkeeping reports for the months either side
- customer lists, sales by customer and any recurring contracts in place then
- leases, supplier agreements and key staff arrangements at the date
- budgets, forecasts, bank or finance applications and business plans prepared before the date
- offers, approaches from buyers or prior valuations from around that time
- the share register, unit register or partnership agreement at the date
Records rebuilt later from memory carry less weight. If a document did not exist at the time, it is better to say so than to create one now.
What the valuation report covers for this purpose
For a retrospective CGT valuation, the report sets out:
- the asset or interest valued, the owner and the valuation date
- the purpose, and the standard of value used (market value)
- the information relied on, with its dates, and anything not available
- how information after the date was treated
- the method, the earnings used and any adjustments, with reasons
- the market evidence and cross-checks
- assumptions and limitations
- the conclusion, signed by the valuer responsible
We follow the APES 225 guidelines on valuation services. You can see the full structure on the report contents page.
What we need from you
- the exact valuation date, and the CGT event it relates to, confirmed by your accountant or tax adviser
- what is being valued: the whole business, a parcel of shares or units, or a partnership interest
- financial statements for the two or three years before the date, and the year after if available
- management accounts or reports close to the date
- any of the dated documents listed above that you still have
- a short note on anything unusual at the time, such as a key person leaving or a new lease
Our documents list has the full checklist. If you are not sure whether a record still exists, ask your bookkeeper or bank before deciding it is lost.
Get a fixed fee
A retrospective valuation is priced the same way as any other: a fixed fee set by the annual revenue of the business, starting at $1,495 + GST for revenue under $1 million. Use the price tool below, or see pricing for every band.
General information only, current at 10 November 2026. We value businesses and business interests; we do not give tax advice. Your accountant or tax adviser decides whether a rule applies to you.