The 2026 tax changes are being described in very different ways, depending on who is talking. Some of what you hear is law. Some is a bill that may change, or may not pass. And one thing being said about SDA homes is not supported by anything we have found. This page puts both sides in one place: what is law, what is not yet law, who gains, who gives something up, and the dates, with the sources at the foot of the page.
What is already law
Two Acts carry the changes. The first is Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Act 2026, Act No. 49 of 2026, assented to on 26 June 2026. The second is Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 2) Act 2026, Act No. 71 of 2026, assented to on 26 August 2026 and in force from 1 October 2026.
Negative gearing
For a home bought after 7.30pm AEST on 12 May 2026 (for a contract, when it is entered into), a net rental loss can no longer come off other income, such as wages, from the 2027-28 income year. The loss is kept aside and carried forward, to be used against rental income from homes and against net capital gains. A home held before that time keeps negative gearing. A complying super fund, a self-managed fund included, sits outside the limit. The second Act adds the rules for spouses, co-owners and relationship breakdowns, from the 2027-28 income year. What counts as a new home is left to a determination by the Minister, and we have found none; the bill below would set it.
Capital gains tax
A sale before 1 July 2027 keeps the 50 per cent discount, for an asset held for at least 12 months. For gains from 1 July 2027, the first Act replaces the discount with indexation of the cost base, for resident individuals and trusts. A 30 per cent minimum tax applies to Australian resident individuals. An asset held at 30 June 2027 takes its market value just before 1 July 2027 as its starting point. New homes and affordable housing keep a choice.
Fittings in a second-hand home
This one is older, and still the law. Since 7.30pm AEST on 9 May 2017, an individual or self-managed fund letting out a second-hand home, not as a business, cannot claim the decline in value of fittings it did not hold when they were first used. The exceptions are a new home with no earlier resident, a business, some entities the law excludes, and assets in a low-value pool. SDA has no exception of its own: an SDA home bought second-hand is caught like any other home, unless one of those exceptions applies.
Inherited property
Australia has no inheritance tax. A beneficiary takes over the cost base of an inherited property, or its market value at death if the person who died bought it before 20 September 1985, or it was their main residence and not earning income. Capital gains tax does not usually arise on inheriting; it arises when the beneficiary later sells. A former main residence may be exempt if it is sold within two years of the death. The 2027 indexation and minimum tax apply to beneficiaries generally.
What is not yet law: the Tax Reform No. 3 Bill
The Government introduced the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 3) Bill 2026 on 14 October 2026. It has gone to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee, which is due to report on 13 November 2026, and no amendments have been circulated. It is a bill, not law. It can change before it passes, if it passes. As introduced, it would do three things that touch property.
- SDA and some other housing. The Tax Reform No. 3 Bill 2026, introduced on 14 October 2026 and not yet law, would exempt from the negative gearing limits a dwelling enrolled under NDIS rules as a specialist disability accommodation dwelling, from the 2027-28 income year. It turns on the enrolment, not on the home being new, and covers losses while the home is enrolled. It would also exempt affordable housing, homes made available for public housing, active build to rent, and homes used in running a retirement village or a residential care home. It does not change the 2017 rule on fittings.
- What a new home is. Under the bill, a dwelling is new for the person who builds it, and for each later buyer within 24 months, if its certificate of occupancy was first issued at or after 7.30pm AEST on 12 May 2026.
- Discretionary trusts. From 1 July 2028, trustees would pay the 30 per cent minimum tax on the taxable income of a discretionary trust. From 1 July 2027, wider rollover relief would let people restructure out of one. Deceased estates, and discretionary testamentary trusts set up for genuine testamentary purposes, would be exempt.
The good: who gains
- Anyone who held a home before 7.30pm AEST on 12 May 2026 keeps negative gearing on it, for as long as they hold it.
- Super funds, self-managed funds included, sit outside the negative gearing limit.
- A sale before 1 July 2027 keeps the 50 per cent discount, and an asset held at 30 June 2027 starts the new rules at its market value then.
- New homes and affordable housing keep a choice on capital gains.
- If the bill passes as introduced: owners of enrolled SDA homes, and buyers of homes that count as new, would sit outside the negative gearing limits.
The bad: who gives something up
- An investor buying an established home after the cut-off carries a rental loss for longer: from the 2027-28 income year it no longer comes off wages.
- A resident individual selling at a gain from 1 July 2027 works to indexation, not the discount, and to a 30 per cent minimum tax.
- A buyer of a second-hand home to rent out, SDA included, still cannot claim the fittings already in it, outside the exceptions above.
- If the bill passes as introduced: discretionary trusts, from 1 July 2028.
One thing being said that is not supported
You may hear that SDA homes are “grandfathered”, kept outside the 2026 changes. Nothing we have found supports that. The negative gearing limits are law, and the law in force today has no SDA exception. The bill would exempt enrolled SDA homes from those limits, but it is not law. And the 2017 rule on fittings already reaches an SDA home bought second-hand, with no exception of its own.
The dates
- 9 May 2017, 7.30pm AEST. The rule on fittings in second-hand homes begins. Law.
- 12 May 2026, 7.30pm AEST. The cut-off for negative gearing. Law.
- 26 June 2026. Act No. 49 of 2026 assented to. Law.
- 26 August 2026. Act No. 71 of 2026 assented to; in force from 1 October 2026. Law.
- 14 October 2026. The Tax Reform No. 3 Bill introduced. A bill.
- 13 November 2026. The Senate committee is due to report on the bill.
- 1 July 2027. Indexation and the 30 per cent minimum tax begin, for gains from this date. Law.
- The 2027-28 income year. The negative gearing limits apply. Law. The SDA exemption would apply from the same income year, if the bill passes.
- 1 July 2028. The minimum tax on discretionary trusts, if the bill passes.
The dates for selling sit on Capital gains tax changes: the dates, and the gearing rules in full on Negative gearing after 2026.
Where this leaves you
Which of these touches you turns on what you hold, how you hold it and when you bought it. The law part is settled; the bill part is not, and the committee report in November is the next date to watch. This page will be updated when the bill passes, changes or lapses.
If you’d like someone alongside you to work out which of these reaches your own position, start with the first conversation. It costs nothing.
Nicholas Lockhart
Capital gains tax changes: the dates, 2017 to 2027 →
Negative gearing after 2026: what changed, and who it touches →
Law as at 22 October 2026; the bill as introduced on 14 October 2026, with its committee listing as at 22 October 2026. General information only, not personal financial or tax advice: please confirm anything specific with your own accountant before you act.
Source: Australian Taxation Office, Tax reform - Boosting home ownership - Reforming negative gearing and capital gains tax (updated 29 June 2026); Federal Register of Legislation, Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 1) Act 2026, Act No. 49 of 2026; Federal Register of Legislation, Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 2) Act 2026, Act No. 71 of 2026; Parliament of Australia, Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Reform No. 3) Bill 2026, and its Explanatory Memorandum; Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, section 40-27.