# Buying USD - FX Conversion and Tax



## Frankieplus (25 February 2021)

Hey everyone, 


In regards to trading US via an International Broker,  what do I need to do in regards to conversion rates, tax and monitoring my trading performance?

With my broker I have an AUD cash account and a USD can account. I can freely convert from one to the other anytime. If I have no USD and I want to buy US Shares the broker will auto convert AUD to USD on the fly. 

For tax purposes I'm assuming I need to know the AUS/USD exchange rate at the time I buy or sell US shares right and note this in my spreadsheet? 

Is it a case where I can I simply convert some AUD to USD and then use the USD to trade US so long as I note the whatever the AUD exchange rate is at the time of the trade? Is this more or less what I need to do?

Or is it best to simply keep the cash always in AUD and only convert to USD the minute I want to buy US and then back to AUD straight away after I sell US?

Can anyone see any problems or complications in doing the above for the purpose or tax and also monitoring my own trading performance?

I'm not sure how this all works I am new to trading internatoinal  stocks. 


-Frank


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## qldfrog (25 February 2021)

Frankieplus said:


> Hey everyone,
> 
> 
> In regards to trading US via an International Broker,  what do I need to do in regards to conversion rates, tax and monitoring my trading performance?
> ...



FWIW: I transfer aud into USD and record the rate
Ideally I should record the rate at each transaction but I do not, if I gain or loss XXXX USD, my accountant then use the ATO rate for that year as I understand it


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