Papua New Guinea capital gains tax calculator
Papua New Guinea taxes one kind of capital gain: from 1 January 2026, a sale of mining or petroleum rights, or of shares in a company drawing more than half its value from them, pays 15% of the gain. Every other share, crypto and property sale is outside the tax, and a trading profit is taxed as income.
Enter your sales by hand or import your trade history. The calculator applies the 15% disposal by disposal, uses the 1 January 2026 value for assets you already held, carries capital losses forward to later sales, stacks trading profits on your income, and gives the return date for each taxable sale. Everything stays in your browser.
Rates current as of 2026-09-30, from the Internal Revenue Commission’s certified Income Tax Act 2025 and the sources each record cites.
Current rules
The rates behind the number
Tax on a disposal by year
| Tax year | Mining and petroleum rights, resource-company shares | Other shares, funds, crypto, property | Trading or profit-making sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | No capital gains tax | No capital gains tax | Income tax, 0% to K12,500, top rate 42% |
| 2022 | No capital gains tax | No capital gains tax | Income tax, 0% to K17,500 from 1 June, top rate 42% |
| 2023 | No capital gains tax | No capital gains tax | Income tax, 0% to K20,000, top rate 42% |
| 2024 | No capital gains tax | No capital gains tax | Income tax, 0% to K20,000, top rate 42% |
| 2025 | No capital gains tax | No capital gains tax | Income tax, 0% to K20,000, top rate 42% |
| 2026 | 15% of the gain | Outside capital gains tax | Income tax, 0% to K20,000, top rate 42% |
| 2027 | 15% of the gain | Outside capital gains tax | Income tax, 0% to K20,000, top rate 42% |
How the 15% works (Income Tax Act 2025)
| Rule | Value |
|---|---|
| Taxable assets (s 83) | Mining and petroleum rights, information about them, options over them, and shares or other interests deriving more than 50% of their value from them at any time in the 365 days before the sale |
| Gain (s 81, s 88) | Sale price less cost, with purchase and sale costs and improvements in the cost |
| Assets held before 2026 (s 164) | Cost is the market value on 1 January 2026, unless you elect the original cost by the return date and can prove it |
| Losses (s 82) | Carried forward indefinitely against later gains on taxable assets only, never against income |
| Return and payment (s 145, s 146) | One return per disposal, tax paid with it, by the 21st of the month after the sale |
| Non-resident seller (s 152) | The buyer withholds 10% of the price, credited against the 15% |
| Trading stock, profit-making sales (s 83(2), s 23) | Not taxable assets: the profit is business income on the personal scale |
Source records as of 2026-09-30. Transfers also carry stamp duty: up to 5% on property above K100,000, paid by the buyer, and 1% on share transfers.
Questions
Papua New Guinea capital gains questions
Does Papua New Guinea have a capital gains tax?
Only a narrow one. From 1 January 2026 the Income Tax Act 2025 taxes gains on mining and petroleum rights, and on shares in companies drawing more than half their value from them, at 15%. Ordinary shares, funds, crypto, land and houses are outside it. Before 2026 there was no capital gains tax at all.
Is selling PNGX shares taxed?
Only when the company is a resource company: one deriving more than 50% of its value from mining or petroleum rights at any time in the year before your sale. Then the gain pays 15%. Shares in banks, telecoms and other non-resource companies are outside the tax, unless you trade them as a business.
What if I trade shares or flip property?
Buying to resell at a profit, or running a profit-making scheme, makes the profit business income. It is added to your other income and taxed on the personal scale, 0% on the first K20,000 and up to 42% above K250,000, in the annual return due by 31 March. The same rule applied before 2026.
What cost do I use for resource shares bought before 2026?
The market value on 1 January 2026, so growth before that date is never taxed. You can elect the original cost instead, which helps when the shares have fallen since you bought them, but the election has to reach the Internal Revenue Commission by the disposal's return date and you need records proving the cost.
When did Papua New Guinea's capital gains tax start?
Papua New Guinea charges capital gains tax at 15% from 1 January 2026 under the Income Tax Act 2025: section 16 imposes it on a person who makes a capital gain on the disposal of a taxable asset, at the rate in Schedule 1 Part I clause 21 (15%), on the gain reduced by capital losses carried forward. The Act commences on 1 January 2026 (s 165(1)) and applies to tax years starting on or after that date. PwC's corporate income determination (reviewed 23 September 2026) states the same regime: a CGT applying to disposals of taxable assets, the gain broadly the consideration less cost subject to 15% tax. Sources: https://static.irc.gov.pg/2025/October/0uvVvY-media-certifiedincometaxact2025.pdf and https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/papua-new-guinea/corporate/income-determination
Which assets does the 15% cover?
Only resource-linked assets are taxable assets (s 83(1)): a resource right (a mining or petroleum right, s 100: an exploration licence, special mining lease or mining lease under the Mining Act 1992, or a petroleum prospecting, retention or development licence under the Oil and Gas Act 1998), information relating to a resource right, a membership interest in an entity deriving more than 50% of its value directly or indirectly from those assets, and an option or right to acquire any of them. The 50% test is met if it holds at any time in the 365 days before the disposal (s 83(3)). Ordinary shares, funds, crypto, land and buildings are outside the tax. Sources: https://static.irc.gov.pg/2025/October/0uvVvY-media-certifiedincometaxact2025.pdf and https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/papua-new-guinea/corporate/income-determination
How are trading gains taxed?
Trading stock and assets held on revenue account are not taxable assets (s 83(2)(b)-(c)): the net gain from a venture in the nature of trade, a profit-making undertaking or scheme, or a revenue-account business asset is business income under s 23(1)(d), taxed on the personal income scale, and the matching loss is a deduction under s 29(1)(d). An asset used solely to derive exempt income is exempt (s 84). Sources: https://static.irc.gov.pg/2025/October/0uvVvY-media-certifiedincometaxact2025.pdf and https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/papua-new-guinea/corporate/income-determination
How is the gain worked out?
The gain is the consideration less the cost at the time of disposal (s 81); cost includes the price paid, incidental costs of acquiring and disposing, installation and improvement expenditure, and for non-depreciable real property the holding costs not otherwise deducted (s 88(3)). For an asset acquired before 1 January 2026 the cost is its fair market value on that date unless the person elects its actual cost, furnished by the capital gains tax return due date and substantiated (s 164(10)-(11)); PwC's corporate income determination confirms cost bases can be marked to fair market value at 1 January 2026. Sources: https://static.irc.gov.pg/2025/October/0uvVvY-media-certifiedincometaxact2025.pdf and https://taxsummaries.pwc.com/papua-new-guinea/corporate/income-determination
How do capital losses work?
A capital loss carries forward indefinitely against capital gains on taxable assets only, never against income, once substantiated (s 82(2)-(3)), and only if a capital gains tax return was furnished for the loss disposal (s 145(2)). A return is due for each disposal by the 21st day of the month after the disposal, or the stamp duty due date if earlier (s 145(1)), and the tax is due the same day (s 146), so a loss reduces only gains on later disposals. Source: https://static.irc.gov.pg/2025/October/0uvVvY-media-certifiedincometaxact2025.pdf
What happens when a non-resident sells?
When the seller is a non-resident, the buyer withholds 10% of the gross consideration (s 152(5), Schedule 1 Part I cl. 18); the withholding is not a final tax and is credited against the seller's capital gains tax on the disposal (s 160(3)). The 15% rate itself is the same for residents and non-residents. Source: https://static.irc.gov.pg/2025/October/0uvVvY-media-certifiedincometaxact2025.pdf