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Picking a rate
For a one-off amount, like selling shares or buying property overseas, use the rate on the day it happened. In Australia that's the RBA's daily rate. For income that comes in through the year, like foreign dividends or interest, you can use an average instead: the ATO publishes one for each month and one for the financial year, and HMRC publishes monthly rates and yearly averages.
The IRS doesn't set official rates. It accepts any posted rate you use consistently, and publishes yearly averages you can use for income that arrives evenly through the year.
How the conversion works
Tax offices quote how much foreign currency one unit of your own currency buys, so a foreign amount converts by dividing. US$1,000 at an RBA rate of 0.6531 is 1,000 ÷ 0.6531 = A$1,531.16. The converter keeps every decimal of the rate and only rounds the final amount to the cent.
Averages are dated on the last day of the period they cover, so any day in March uses the monthly rate dated 31 March, and any day from July to June uses the financial year average dated 30 June.
Converting a whole year
Copy the date, amount and currency columns out of your broker statement or spreadsheet and paste them into the list. A fourth column can carry a note, like which company paid the dividend. Dates can be written the usual way where you pay tax, or as 2026-03-14. You get each amount converted and a total, and you can download the lot as a CSV to put back in your spreadsheet.
Questions
Does the ATO accept RBA rates?
Yes. The ATO accepts the RBA's daily rates as well as its own monthly and yearly averages. Whichever you pick, stick with it for the same kind of income so your figures are consistent from year to year.
Can I use an average rate for a share sale?
Usually not. A sale is a one-off event, and in Australia and the UK the tax office expects it converted at the rate on the day it happened. Averages are for income that arrives through the period, like dividends and interest. In the US the IRS generally wants the rate on the day too, and allows a yearly average for income received evenly across the year.
Why isn't this month's rate out yet?
Averages can only be worked out once the period is over, so the ATO's monthly and yearly averages and the IRS yearly rates come out after it ends. HMRC's monthly rates are the exception, since HMRC sets them just before the month starts.
What if the day falls on a weekend or a public holiday?
No rate is published that day, so the converter uses the last one before it, and shows what the next one would give so you can see the difference. We never blend or estimate a rate between two published ones.
Is there a limit?
It's free, with a limit of 30 lookups a minute for each network. Moving to another day in the same year doesn't count as a new lookup. For more than that, or to build conversions into your own software, use the API.
Is this tax advice?
No. It does the arithmetic with the published rates, but whether a rate suits your situation is between you and your accountant or tax agent.