What should you download from CommSec?
Your account's transactions as a CSV. CommSec's help centre points to Portfolio → Accounts → Transactions: choose the account, set a date range and download. The range is limited to 12 months at a time, so download one file per year back to your first trade. Menu names change; check CommSec's help page for the current steps.
The holdings CSV from the Accounts page is useful for checking the result (see below).
Which columns does Worthbase use?
The export is laid out like a cash ledger: Date, Reference, Details, Debit($), Credit($) and Balance($). The quirks:
- The trade is packed into one field.
B 100 CBA @ 100.00means buy 100 CBA at $100.00;Smeans sell. - Brokerage is inside the amount. The debit for that buy is
10019.95: $10,000.00 for the shares plus $19.95 brokerage. Your AI works out the brokerage as the difference, and Worthbase adds it to the cost base. On a sale, it comes off the proceeds. - Day-first dates, such as
15/02/2023. - Cash rows, such as direct debits to your bank, aren't trades and are skipped.
- ASX codes. Holdings are created as ASX-listed shares or ETFs in Australian dollars, priced daily.
The export usually has no dividend rows. If dividends aren't in your file, add them from your dividend statements or bank statement for a total return that includes income.
What should you ask your AI?
Here are my CommSec transaction CSVs from 2023 to 2025. Add the trades to my CommSec account in Worthbase, with brokerage worked out from the debit and credit amounts. Check the closing holdings against my CommSec holdings and show me the preview before saving.
What does the preview show?
New holdings, the number of buys and sells, rows already recorded (skipped as duplicates, matched on CommSec's reference), conflicts, warnings and the realised gains or losses. Nothing is saved until you approve.
For example, in Worthbase's test file, 120 CBA shares sold in May 2024 come from two earlier parcels (FIFO). The realised gain is $1,112.12. These figures are illustrative. Worthbase reports gains and losses, not tax; check tax with your accountant.
How do you check the import?
Compare units per code with CommSec's holdings. If a code is short, look for a missing year's file or a corporate action such as a share purchase plan, dividend reinvestment or a split, and ask your AI to record it. For the cost base, compare a holding against your own records or your contract notes.
Questions
Does Worthbase connect to CommSec?
No. Worthbase never asks for broker logins. You download the file and your AI reads it.
Does Worthbase work out my tax?
No. Worthbase gives the cost base and the realised gain or loss on each sale, parcel by parcel, with each parcel's purchase date. It doesn't calculate tax or apply discounts; check that with your accountant.
Can I choose which parcels I sold?
Yes. FIFO is the default, but you can tell Worthbase which lots a sale used, and simulate a sale before you make it.
CommSec is a trademark of its owner; Worthbase isn't affiliated with it.
