If you are carrying on a business of sharetrading, you can offset your losses against your ordinary income from salary & wages, rent, dividends, etc.
However, your activity must meet the criteria of carrying on a business, which is repetition & regularity of activity and conducting one's activity in a business like manner.
Repetition & regularity of activity means there is a clear pattern of buying & selling on a relatively short term basis.
Example, 5 buys & 5 sells each month with shares held from one day to six months or more for some.
Businesslike method means you following a trading plan and methods, such as FA, TA, etc.
But if you have merely held stock for 12 months or more and suddenly have all of these big losses on shares like ABC Learning Centres, Allco, Centro, BNB, etc, then you are merely an investor & your shares are CGT assets.
When your shares are CGT assets, your losses are CGT losses. These cannot be offset against your ordinary income from your salary & wages.
If you have been an investor for many years and your past income tax returns show CGT intead of business income, then you will have difficulty justifying a change in your reporting method from CGT to business income.
