Pearler is an Australian platform built for long-term share and ETF investing, with features like auto-invest and dividend reinvestment. Because it operates in Australia, your activity sits inside the ATO's framework, and the tax office can see share disposals and dividend income through its data-matching program. The rules are well defined; the work is tracking each parcel and getting the ETF distributions right.

How Pearler activity is taxed

• Buying and holding shares or ETFs is not a taxable event on its own. Tax applies when you sell or receive income.
• Selling shares or ETFs is a disposal and a CGT event, measured in Australian dollars. Hold for more than 12 months and you generally get the 50% CGT discount.
• Dividends are assessable income. Franked dividends carry franking credits, which you declare and can claim, sometimes as a refund.
• Dividend reinvestment (DRP) and auto-invest create a new parcel each time, every one with its own cost base and its own 12-month clock.
• ETF and managed fund distributions arrive with an AMMA statement that breaks the distribution into components (capital gains, franked and unfranked income, foreign income) and often adjusts your cost base. These are the fiddliest part of share tax.

A quick worked example

Say you buy 500 units of an ETF at $20, plus $10 brokerage, for a cost base of $10,010. Fourteen months later you sell them for $26,000. Your gain is $26,000 minus $10,010, which is $15,990. Because you held for more than 12 months, the 50% discount roughly halves the taxable gain to about $7,995. If you reinvested distributions along the way, each reinvestment is its own parcel with its own cost base, so the maths is done parcel by parcel.

Why AMMA statements matter

An ETF distribution is not simply income. The AMMA (Attribution Managed Investment Trust Member Annual) statement splits it into parts, such as franked and unfranked dividends, capital gains and foreign income, each taxed its own way. It can also include a cost-base adjustment that changes the gain you report when you eventually sell. Skip the AMMA detail and both your income this year and your future capital gain will be wrong.

Importing Pearler into Summ

You can bring your Pearler history into Summ by importing your trade confirmations, annual tax statement or CSV. Because Summ now covers shares and crypto, your Pearler holdings sit alongside everything else in one report.

Common Pearler tax gotchas

Auto-invest parcels. Regular small buys build a lot of parcels. Which one you sell changes the gain and whether the discount applies.

AMMA components. Apply the distribution components and cost-base adjustments, or your future gain is wrong.

Franking credits. Every franked dividend carries a credit worth claiming. Missed credits are missed refunds.

US shares. If you hold US shares through Pearler, foreign dividends carry US withholding tax and need currency conversion.

Keep the paperwork. Contract notes, dividend and DRP statements, and AMMA statements are what prove your cost base years later.

Summ imports your Pearler shares, ETFs and dividends, applies the ATO's rules (the 12-month CGT discount, franking credits, AMMA components), and produces an ATO-ready report for myTax or your accountant.

Generate a free preview to see your Pearler position before filing.

Frequently asked questions

Do I pay tax on Pearler shares I haven't sold? Not on the growth, that is unrealised. But dividends and distributions you receive are taxable in the year you get them, even if reinvested.

Are reinvested distributions taxed? Yes. A reinvested distribution is income in the year it is paid, and the new units are a fresh parcel with their own cost base.

Do I get the 50% CGT discount? Yes, individuals generally get a 50% discount on the gain for shares or units held longer than 12 months.

What is an AMMA statement? The annual tax statement for an ETF or managed fund that splits your distribution into its tax components and any cost-base adjustment.