I think it is a 24hr timeframe. Some articles below from Money...

I think it is a 24hr timeframe. Some articles below from Money Management.com-


1) Tax office alert on ‘wash sale’ arrangements

By Amy Corderoy

Tax Commissioner Michael D’Ascenzo has issued a ‘taxpayer alert’ that warns people to be cautious about ‘wash sale’ arrangements that aim to reduce capital gains or claim deductions.


The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has issued a statement defining wash sale arrangements as the “disposal of an asset, generally shares, with the intention to generate a capital loss”.

The same or substantially the same asset is then later acquired, the ATO statement said.

“In certain circumstances we may determine that wash sale arrangements are schemes to reduce income tax,” D’Ascenzo said.

“People who have already claimed deductions for any losses they incur under these arrangements should consider telling us so that we can help them sort out their situation,” he said.

He added that if individuals approach the tax office before they are contacted for an audit they might be entitled to reduced penalties.

D’Ascenzo said that the ATO is also targeting people or companies that promote wash sale arrangements.

“Entities marketing such schemes should also be careful as they could contravene the promoter penalty laws,” he said.

The ATO requested that any person with information about people or companies who are promoting wash sale arrangements call the tax sale integrity service on 1800 639 745.

However, the tax office is not concerned with the genuine disposal of an asset at market value, the ATO statement said.

More information on wash sale arrangements is available from the ATO website.

21 April 2008



2)ATO clamps down on ‘wash sales’

By Justin Lim

Chartered accountants GMK Centric has warned financial advisers to take note of the latest round of ‘wash sale’ decisions to be issued by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) coinciding with year-end tax planning.


GMK Centric taxation director Chris Wookey said the ATO intends to apply the general anti-avoidance provisions of Part IVA of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 to a number of arrangements known collectively as ‘wash sales’ due to the perception of them having little commercial rationale.

According to a January 2008 tax ruling and April 2008 taxpayer alert, the ATO believes that if a taxpayer sells a parcel of shares on the Australian Securities Exchange only to buy them back within 24 hours, such an action was only explicable by a dominant purpose of obtaining a tax benefit and was potentially changeable using Part IVA.

“The ATO is not seeking to attack outright sales and genuine disposal of assets at market value,” Wookey said.

“Rather, it is targeting situations where economic ownership is effectively retained.”

Wookey said advisers who have advocated such wash sales could be prosecuted under the promoter penalty regime, with fines of up to $550,000 for individuals and $2.75 million for companies.

“Clients and advisers will need to take care not to undertake what may have been a traditional tax planning action when reviewing their 2008 tax affairs in the lead up to June 30.”

29 May 2008