Compensation from your bank or financial institution – is it taxable?

Unfortunately our financial institutions have not always acted as ethically as we consumers would like.

Whether you’ve received bad advice or paid for advice you didn’t receive at all, our supervisory and regulatory bodies have sought not only to improve the system so it won’t happen again, but also to ensure that if you are on the receiving end of such bad behaviour, you could be entitled to receive financial restitution.

If you’ve recently received a compensation payment, you might be wondering whether you need to pay tax on it.

The answer is - it depends!  

It depends on how your investment was held1 and the type of compensation you received.  

For example, if you’ve disposed of the investment and previously reported a capital gain in your income tax return, your compensation payment increases the capital gain (you may be able to claim the 50% discount too if you held the investment for more than 12 months).  You may need to amend your income tax return to include this additional capital gain.  

If you haven’t yet disposed of the investment, and you hold it as a capital investment1, then the compensation payment reduces its cost for when you do dispose of it in the future (make sure keep details of the compensation payment with your tax records to provide to us later).

Where your compensation payment includes an amount that is a refund or reimbursement of adviser fees, and these fees were previously claimed a tax deduction by you, then the amount you received as a refund or reimbursement will generally be taxable to you in the income year you receive it.   Similarly, any part of the payment that represents interest should also be included in your tax return in the year you receive it.

If you’ve received an amount of compensation and not sure whether it is taxable, or if you need to amend a prior year tax return for a payment you received, please reach out to us.

1 Note the tax treatment described may be different if a compensation payment relates to an investment that is held on trust, as a revenue asset, or received by a business or superannuation fund.

PR Jennings Pty Ltd – Accountants Mornington - Ph 5975 5183

Disclaimer: All information provided in this article is of a general nature only and is not personal financial or investment advice. Also, changes in legislation may occur frequently. We recommend that our formal advice be obtained before acting on the basis of this information.

Please note we at PR Jennings Pty Ltd are not licensed to provide financial product advice under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth)and taxation is only one of the matters that must be considered when making a decision on a financial product, including on whether to make superannuation contributions. You should consider taking advice from the holder of an Australian financial services licence before making a decision on a financial product.