frequency of paying tax and reporting, page-15

Jasonj, that is a very complicated question. I will give you the abbreviated answer instead of the complicated one.

The ATO has released a lot of guidance on when share trading constitutes carrying on a business. In most cases, you will not be considered to be carrying on a business. You have to be running a very elaborate trading operation to be carrying on a business.

Ubhopeful, "regular share trading" rarely constitutes carrying on a business. I trade shares through my SMSF and so do thousands of other people. It doesn't mean we're carrying on a business. The SMSF Auditors don't have a problem with it, so neither does the ATO.

In fact, ESuperfund who are an enormous provider of Audit services, allow their clients to trade CFDs! Click the link and have a look.

There seems to be a lot of confusion in the SMSF community about what's OK and what isn't. Perhaps people should try looking on the ATO website and industry websites before they post answers?