Investing itself can be pretty simple: buy good investments, keep adding to them and give them time.
The admin side? Not so much.
After a few years, it’s easy to end up with a collection of contract notes, dividend statements, annual tax summaries and the occasional letter from a share registry that leaves you wondering what you just read.
You’ll be glad to know you don’t need to keep every document forever. You just need to hold onto the records that explain what happened in your portfolio. They’ll make life much easier when it’s time to calculate capital gains tax (CGT), report investment income or understand how your holdings have changed over time.
Here’s what to keep and why it’s worth the effort.
Why investment records matter
Keeping good records isn’t just about ticking a box for the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). It also makes your own life easier whenever you need to understand what’s going on in your portfolio.
Records help you:
- Calculate capital gains tax properly when you sell
- Report dividend and distribution income at tax time
- Confirm when you bought something and what you paid
- Track changes from dividend reinvestment plans (DRPs) or corporate actions
- Avoid overpaying tax because you’ve lost part of your cost base
Every document you receive is basically a small piece of the puzzle. If you keep those pieces, everything makes sense later. If you don’t, you might find yourself trying to piece it all together years down the track, which is rarely fun.
How investment records are delivered
Investment records can arrive in a few different ways, depending on the type of document and how your accounts are set up.
In many cases, you’ll receive records digitally. This might include:
- Contract notes, transaction histories and account statements through your broker’s online platform
- Emails from share registries or fund managers with links to download dividend statements, distribution notices and annual tax statements
Some investors may still receive documents by post, particularly if they haven’t opted into electronic communications with share registries.
It’s also worth noting that not all records will be available in one place. Most investing platforms (including Pearler) keep your trade history, contract notes and account statements, which takes a lot of the admin off your plate.
But not every document you’ll need comes from your broker. Things like ETF annual tax statements, dividend notices and corporate action updates are often sent by share registries or fund managers instead.
That’s why it’s still worth downloading and storing important records somewhere you control, especially if you ever switch brokers or hold investments for many years.
1. Buy and sell contract notes
If you only keep one type of document, make it your contract notes. They’re essentially your receipts for every trade, and you get one every time you buy or sell.
Each one includes:
- The trade date
- The investment name or ticker
- The number of shares or units
- The price you paid or received
- Brokerage and other costs
This information is what you use to work out your cost base. In simple terms, this is what the ATO considers you paid for the investment. It becomes important when you sell.
For example, if you buy an ETF today and sell it 10 or 15 years from now, you’ll need to know exactly what you originally paid to calculate your capital gain or loss. Trying to reconstruct that from memory (or digging through old bank transactions) isn’t ideal.
2. CHESS statements
If your investments are CHESS-sponsored, you’ll also receive CHESS statements when something changes.
CHESS (the Clearing House Electronic Subregister System) is the ASX system that records ownership of many listed investments. Your broker handles the trade, but CHESS helps confirm who actually owns the shares or units.
These statements can show:
- When securities were added or removed
- Changes to your holdings
- Transfers between accounts
They’re useful as a record of ownership, but they don’t replace your contract notes or tax statements. It’s best to think of them as supporting documents rather than your main source of information.
3. Share registry statements and notices
At some point, you’ll probably start receiving emails or letters from companies you don’t remember signing up with. That’s normal – they’re coming from share registries.
Companies and ETF providers use registries like Computershare, Link Market Services and Automic to manage investor records. So instead of everything coming through your broker, some updates come directly from these registries.
Depending on what you own, you might receive:
- Holding statements
- Dividend or distribution notices
- Tax statements
- Voting information
- Corporate action notices
These can include details your broker doesn’t provide, so they’re worth keeping.
4. Dividend statements
If you own Australian shares, you’ll receive dividend statements whenever a company pays you.
These usually include:
- The dividend amount
- The payment date
- Franking credits
- Any tax withheld
You’ll need this information when you do your tax return, as dividends (and franking credits) need to be reported correctly.
They’re also handy if you like to keep track of how much income your investments are generating over time. Even if the amounts feel small now, they tend to grow as your portfolio grows, so it’s worth getting into the habit of keeping these from the start.
5. ETF and managed fund annual tax statements
This is where things can get a bit less straightforward.
ETF and managed fund distributions aren’t as simple as company dividends. The cash you receive can be made up of different components, each with its own tax treatment. That’s why you can’t just rely on the amount that lands in your bank account.
Instead, fund managers send out an annual tax statement (often called an AMIT statement – Attribution Managed Investment Trust).
These statements break your distributions down into things like:
- Capital gains
- Foreign income
- Franking credits
- Tax offsets
- Other adjustments
So the amount you receive isn’t always the amount you report. Because of this, many ETF investors wait until these statements arrive before lodging their tax return. If you lodge too early, you might end up needing to amend it later.
6. DRP statements
If you’re enrolled in a Dividend Reinvestment Plan (DRP), your dividends are automatically used to buy additional shares or units instead of being paid into your bank account.
It can feel like nothing really happened, because you don’t receive any cash. But from a record-keeping perspective, quite a lot happened.
A DRP statement shows:
- The dividend you received
- The number of additional shares or units purchased
- The price they were acquired at
These statements matter because the dividend is generally still taxable, even though it was reinvested rather than paid to you. The new shares or units also become part of your investment and will affect your cost base when you eventually sell.
If you’re a long-term investor who reinvests dividends for years, keeping these records can make future CGT calculations much easier.
7. Corporate action notices
Not every change to your investments happens because you decided to buy or sell. Sometimes companies or fund managers make changes that affect existing investors. These are known as corporate actions.
Common examples include:
- Stock splits
- Share consolidations
- Demergers
- Returns of capital
- Company mergers
While these events don’t always have an immediate tax impact, they can affect your cost base or the number of shares or units you own. That’s why it’s worth keeping any notices you receive about corporate actions, even if they don’t seem particularly important at the time.
8. Tax returns and supporting records
It’s not just investment documents that are worth keeping. Your lodged tax returns, notices of assessment and any working papers or calculations used to prepare them can all be useful if you need to look back at what you’ve previously reported.
For example, you might want to check:
- When you declared particular investment income
- How a capital gain was calculated
- Whether a carried-forward capital loss has already been used
Having these records on hand can save a lot of guesswork if questions come up later.
9. Portfolio tracking spreadsheets or exports
Many investors like to keep a spreadsheet to track their portfolio. There’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, it can be a great way to monitor contributions, investment performance or income over time.
Just remember that your spreadsheet is there to help you stay organised. It’s generally not a substitute for official records like contract notes, annual tax statements, DRP statements or share registry notices. If something ever needs checking, your original documents are usually the source of truth.
How long should you keep investment records?
As a general rule, keep any records that affect your investments for as long as you own them, then for at least five years after you’ve sold them and lodged the associated tax return. This five-year period aligns with standard ATO record-keeping requirements.
What if your records aren’t perfect?
If you’ve already lost a few documents, don’t panic. It’s surprisingly common, particularly for investors who have:
- Changed brokers
- Held investments for many years
- Inherited shares
- Forgotten about old accounts
In many cases, it’s possible to rebuild your records using a combination of:
- Your broker’s transaction history
- Share registry records
- Previous tax returns
- Bank statements
If important information is still missing – particularly for inherited or gifted investments – it may be worth speaking with a registered tax professional. They can help you determine what records are available and how to establish the correct cost base for your situation.
A simple filing system worth copying
You absolutely don’t need an elaborate filing system. Something simple that you’ll actually stick to is usually the better option.
For example, you could create:
- One folder for each financial year (such as 2025–26)
- Subfolders for buys, sells, dividends, distributions, tax statements and tax returns
- Consistent file names, like 2025-07-15_VAS_buy_contract-note
It’s also worth downloading important records every so often rather than relying on emails or online portals forever. While many brokers and registries keep documents available for years, platforms can change, accounts can be closed and old emails have a habit of disappearing when you need them most.
Good habits compound too
Most investors don’t get excited about filing documents, and that’s perfectly normal.
The good news is that investment record-keeping doesn’t need to become another complicated financial task on your to-do list. A simple system, maintained consistently over time, is usually all you need.
Rule of thumb: Keep anything that affects your ownership, cost base or tax reporting. Routine notifications and duplicate copies generally don’t need to be kept once you’ve saved the official record.
Like investing itself, the benefits come from building small habits and sticking with them. A few minutes spent saving important records today can save hours of stress years down the track.
This article contains general information only and doesn’t take your personal circumstances into account. It isn’t tax or financial advice. If you’re unsure how the rules apply to your situation, consider speaking with a registered tax professional or checking the latest ATO guidance.
