If you just got an "AMMA statement" or "AMIT Member Annual Statement" from your fund or share registry, don't file it in the too-hard pile. It's one of the more useful documents you'll get all year, once you know what it's telling you.

Here's the plain-English version.

First: what actually is an AMMA statement?

AMMA stands for AMIT Member Annual Statement. AMIT is the tax regime most Australian ETFs and managed funds now sit under (Attribution Managed Investment Trust). The name is a mouthful, the job is simple: it's the yearly statement that tells you exactly what income and capital gains your fund attributed to you, so you can report them correctly.

Quick clarification, because it trips people up. You get an AMMA statement if you hold ETFs or managed funds. If you only hold direct shares like CBA or BHP, you don't get an AMMA statement, you get dividend statements instead. Plenty of people hold both, which is part of why tax time gets messy.

Why it turns up now (and when yours should arrive)

Funds work out their final income figures after the financial year closes on 30 June, so the statement can't be issued until then. By law your fund has three months to get it to you, which means the deadline is 30 September. In practice, most of the big providers send between late July and mid-August.

So if yours hasn't arrived yet, you're not behind. It's coming.

What's on it, in plain English

Your fund's distributions aren't one lump of "income". An AMMA statement splits them into components, and each one goes to a different place on your return:

• Dividends and franked distributions, plus the franking credits attached to them. Those credits can reduce your tax bill or even come back as a refund.
• Capital gains, sometimes already split into discounted and non-discounted portions.
• Foreign income and any foreign income tax offset for tax already paid overseas.
• The AMIT cost base net amount, which is the one worth slowing down for.

The bit everyone gets wrong: the cost base adjustment

This is the line that catches people, so here's the whole idea in one breath.

Sometimes the income your fund attributes to you for tax is more than the cash it actually paid into your account. Other times it's less. To keep things fair over the life of your investment, the difference adjusts the cost base of your units:

• Attributed more taxable income than the cash you received? Your cost base goes up.
• Received more cash than taxable income (for example a return of capital)? Your cost base goes down.

Why care? Because your cost base is what your future capital gain is measured against. Here's the sting: the adjustment has to be spread across every parcel you held at each distribution date. Ten years of monthly investing is around 120 parcels to adjust. Skip it, and when you finally sell, your gain (and the tax on it) can be well out. It's slow-motion, but it's real money, and it compounds every year you leave it.

Most tools give you nowhere to record this, which is exactly why so many cost bases quietly drift.

What you do with it

1. Hang on to the statement. You (or your accountant) use it to fill in the managed fund distributions section of your tax return.
2. Put each component in its right box: franked amounts and franking credits, capital gains, foreign income and the offset.
3. Record the cost base adjustment against your holding so your future CGT is correct.
4. Cross-check against any myGov pre-fill, but don't rely on pre-fill alone. It's often incomplete.
5. Keep your records for at least five years from when you lodge.

Steps 1 to 3 are simple with one fund. With several ETFs, a few years of reinvested distributions and some crypto on the side, a spreadsheet gets old fast.

You might owe less than you think

The reflex is to assume a distribution statement means a bigger bill. Often the detail works in your favour:

• Franking credits are effectively tax already paid. They can cut what you owe, and can be refundable.
• Capital losses elsewhere in your portfolio, including crypto, can offset the capital gains component.
• The 50% CGT discount may apply to the capital gains passed through, if the fund held the asset for more than 12 months.
• And a cost base increase from your AMMA statement lowers the gain you'll report when you sell, if you actually record it.

People who report from memory tend to leave money on the table. People who reconcile properly often owe less than they feared.

Where Summ comes in

Summ started in crypto tax. It now supports shares and ETFs alongside crypto, and it does the thing an AMMA statement really needs: it gives you a place to record the AMIT cost base adjustment.

Open the relevant distribution, enter the cost base increase or decrease from your AMMA statement, and Summ applies it across the parcels you held at that date and carries it forward. No 120-row spreadsheet, no drift, and a capital gain that's actually right when you sell.

Because your shares, ETFs and crypto all live in Summ, it comes out as one ATO-ready report across the lot.

Import your shares and sort your AMMA statement, and generate a free report preview before you pay anything.

New to how shares are taxed here? Start with How to calculate stocks, shares and dividends tax in Australia (FY25-26), or see what landed when stocks arrived in Summ.

FAQ

What is an AMMA statement?
It's the AMIT Member Annual Statement from your ETF or managed fund. It sets out the income and capital gains attributed to you for the financial year, split into the components you report on your tax return. It's a tax summary, not a bill.

When will I get my AMMA statement?
After 30 June, and no later than 30 September. Most funds issue between late July and mid-August.

Do I get an AMMA statement for my direct shares?
No. AMMA statements are for ETF and managed fund investors. Direct shareholdings give you dividend statements instead.

What is the AMIT cost base net amount?
It's an adjustment to the cost base of your units. If you were attributed more taxable income than the cash you received, your cost base rises; if you received more cash than taxable income, it falls. It changes the capital gain you'll report when you sell, and it has to be applied to every parcel you held at each distribution date.

Can I record my cost base adjustment in Summ?
Yes. Enter the increase or decrease from your AMMA statement against the distribution and Summ applies it across your parcels and carries it forward.