Common questions from accountants, trustees, executors and property owners preparing a CGT position. If yours is not here, a valuer will answer it directly.
The report is built to answer that question before it is asked: a stated effective date, the methodology and assumptions relied on, a full comparable sales schedule with addresses and adjustments, and a signed certification by the valuer who did the work. Phone support after delivery is included, so the valuer can take your accountant through the evidence. Where a matter escalates further, we prepare expert witness reports to the applicable code.
Tell the valuer and they will take you through the comparable sales and the adjustments behind them. If you hold information we did not — a renovation, an easement, a defect at the effective date — that can properly change the assessment and it should be raised. What cannot change is the figure on request: a valuation is an independent opinion, and a number that moves to suit the client is the number a reviewer disregards.
Yes. Professional indemnity cover is held by the signing valuer. It is one of the practical differences between a registered valuation and a real estate agent appraisal, which carries none for valuation purposes.
Each property needs its own valuation, because each has its own comparable evidence. Several properties can be quoted and delivered together, and additional effective dates on the same property cost less than a second valuation because the inspection and property research are shared.
Yes — coverage is Australia-wide, with inspections in all capital cities and major regional centres. Regional and remote properties are quoted individually, because inspection travel and the depth of local comparable evidence both bear on the scope of the report.
Three things: the full property address, the CGT event, and the relevant valuation date. Anything else you hold helps — old contracts, council rate notices, agent appraisals, building approvals or dated photographs — particularly for a retrospective date. None of it is mandatory, but it strengthens the report and can reduce the fee.
A CGT valuation is an independent market value assessment of a property at a specific date, used by the ATO to calculate the capital gain or loss when an asset is sold, transferred or changes purpose. The report must be defensible, signed by a Certified Practising Valuer, and supported by comparable sales evidence.
Common triggers include: a property purchased before 20 September 1985 that has changed character, a main residence first used to produce income (the 'home first used to produce income' rule), inheritance and date-of-death cost-base resets, and transfers between related parties or into an SMSF.
We routinely prepare valuations effective from 1985 onwards using historical sales databases, council records, contemporaneous photography and archived market commentary. Earlier dates are possible where evidence supports it.
Yes. Our reports follow the ATO market valuation guidelines and the API Professional Practice Standards. Each report includes the valuer's qualifications, methodology, comparable sales schedule and a signed certification — the same format the ATO requests during reviews and objections.
Standard residential reports are delivered within 5 business days of inspection. Urgent 48-hour turnaround is available for an additional fee. Commercial and rural valuations typically take 7–10 business days.
For current market valuations, yes — a physical inspection produces the strongest report. For retrospective dates, a current inspection plus historical evidence (photos, plans, sale records) is the accepted methodology, and a kerbside or desktop assessment is sometimes appropriate.
Standard metropolitan residential valuations start from $440 incl. GST. Commercial, rural and complex retrospective assessments are quoted individually. All fees are fixed and confirmed in writing before we begin.
Absolutely — most of our work is referred by accountants and tax agents. We can liaise directly, send the report to both parties, and provide an invoice in the name of the property owner or the firm.
We routinely value to 20 September 1985 — the start of the CGT regime. Earlier dates are possible (we have prepared 1970s valuations for legacy estate work) where sufficient evidence exists.
Yes, in almost all cases. The accepted methodology pairs a current inspection with historical evidence describing the property as at the effective date.
Yes, where it is prepared by a Certified Practising Valuer to the API Professional Practice Standards and the ATO MVPI, with a full comparable sales schedule and signed certification.
No. The ATO does not accept agent appraisals as substantiation for material CGT positions — an appraisal is a marketing opinion, not an independent assessment.
Standard metropolitan residential retrospective valuations start from $440 incl. GST. Commercial, rural and multi-date assessments are quoted individually.
For most compliance purposes the valuation should be dated within 90 days of the transaction. SMSF annual valuations must reflect market value as at 30 June of the relevant financial year.
A kerbside or desktop assessment is possible, but an internal inspection produces the strongest report and is what we recommend wherever access can be arranged.
Yes. Commercial, industrial and rural valuations are quoted individually and typically take 7–10 business days, as they require lease analysis and a wider evidence search.
Usually yes — the market value conclusion is the same. Tell us at the quote stage if a state revenue office has a specific format requirement and we will match it.
Standard metropolitan residential valuations start from $440 incl. GST. Commercial, rural and specialised properties are quoted individually, with the fee fixed in writing before we begin.
The date the dwelling was first used to produce income — typically the first day of the first lease, or the day a home office or granny flat began earning. Your accountant will confirm the date; we value to it.
No. It applies only where the dwelling would otherwise have been fully exempt and was first used to produce income after 20 August 1996. Where it does apply, the deemed market value acquisition is mandatory, not optional.
Yes. We value the property as it stood at the effective date, using historical evidence — photographs, plans, council records — to describe it before the works.
Usually yes, plus an apportionment. Section 118-190 reduces the exemption by reference to the floor area and the period of income-producing use, and both need to be evidenced.
Standard metropolitan residential valuations start from $440 incl. GST. Apportionment work on unusual configurations is quoted individually.
Yes. This is standard retrospective work; we regularly value estates from the 1990s and earlier using historical sales evidence and council records.
Yes. One date-of-death valuation serves the probate inventory and the beneficiary's cost base. Tell us if the solicitor needs a particular format.
Either. Most of our estate work is instructed by the estate solicitor or the accountant; we can invoice the estate directly and copy the report to all parties.
We can still value retrospectively. The sale price is evidence but not the answer — market value at the date of death may differ, particularly where the sale was some time later.
Standard metropolitan residential valuations start from $440 incl. GST. Multiple properties within one estate are quoted together, usually at a reduced rate per property.
Assets must be reported at market value every year. A full valuation is not always required annually for residential property, but the auditor must see objective, supportable evidence — and for commercial or related-party property a current independent valuation is the safest position.
No. The valuation must be independent of the fund and its members. A valuer with any interest in the property or relationship to the members cannot provide it.
30 June of the relevant financial year for annual reporting, or the transaction date for an in-specie transfer, pension commencement or related-party acquisition.
Yes. Our reports are prepared to API Professional Practice Standards with a full comparable sales schedule and an independence declaration — the format every major SMSF auditor asks for.
Standard metropolitan residential valuations start from $440 incl. GST. Commercial and business real property is quoted individually and typically takes 7–10 business days.
Yes. We are regularly appointed as a single expert in family law property matters, and we accept joint instructions from both parties' solicitors.
Typically 7–10 business days from inspection, longer where the property is complex or the instructions raise multiple questions. Urgent court timetables can usually be accommodated — tell us the date at the quote stage.
Yes. Attendance for cross-examination, joint expert conferences and conferences with counsel are all available and quoted separately from the report.
We confirm the jurisdiction with the instructing solicitor and prepare to the applicable code — Part 7 of the Family Law Rules 2021 in the Federal Circuit and Family Court, the Harmonised Expert Witness Code in most superior courts, GPN-EXPT in the Federal Court.
Expert reports are quoted individually, because the scope depends on the questions asked and the complexity of the property. The fee is fixed in writing before we begin.