CGT Concessions and the Difficulties for Shares and Unit Trust Interests
When selling a business, it is always important to determine whether or not a seller can qualify for the small business CGT concessions. The potential benefit of this is to either exempt, reduce or defer the tax implications of a capital gain made on the sale. When examining the small business CGT provisions, there is […]
Basics of Family Trust Elections
Most practitioners have heard of family trust elections, and some may have made family trust elections to err on the side of caution. However, in many cases, a clear explanation of the reasons for making a family trust election is not readily available. This article aims to provide a practical explanation of the main situations […]
Small Business Tax Concessions – Basics
In addition to the capital gains tax (“CGT“) exemptions and rollovers available more widely, there are four concessions that allow you to disregard or defer some or all of a capital gain from an active asset used in a small business: 15-year exemption – If your business has continuously owned an active asset for 15 years […]
Controlling your superannuation
How to Control Your Superannuation Most people want to take control of their superannuation. There are a few things you can do for making the most of your super. Minimise your super fees The first thing you can do is look at minimising your super fees. It is estimated that 20% of Australian’s pay more […]
Basic Trust Tax
Income tax and capital gains tax issues Because a trust is not a person, its income is not taxed like that of an individual or company unless it is a corporate, public or trading trusts as defined in the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (Cth). In essence the tax treatment of the trust income depends […]
Basics of Testamentary Trusts
A testamentary trust can save you or your beneficiaries a lot of money when it comes to tax. They are usually used to protect assets. A testamentary trust is created by a will in order to provide a higher level of control over the distribution of assets to beneficiaries. The main benefit of a testamentary […]
Basics of trusts
What is a trust? This is probably the most misunderstood aspect of trusts. A frequently held, but erroneous view, is that a trust is a legal entity or person, like a company or an individual. A trust is not a separate legal entity or person at all – it is essentially a relationship that is […]
What is an appointor?
An Appointor has one key job, which is to appoint and remove Trustees of a trust. The Appointor will also usually have other powers such as the ability to refuse certain actions by the Trustee with issues like amending the trust deed, changing the vesting date of the trust and changing beneficiaries of the trust. […]
The Basics of Estate Planning
What is estate planning? Estate planning involves developing a plan to deal with your assets after you die which covers taxation, division of assets, control and family businesses and asset protection. What is estate? Estate can include anything from your car, home, bank accounts, investments, personal possessions and other things such as businesses, life insurance […]
Foreign Land Tax – NSW
We are looking at the imposition of foreign land taxes across the Australian jurisdictions. Foreign ownership in New South Wales occurs when a foreign entity purchases residential land. When dealing with land tax in New South Wales if there is a foreign party that owns the assets, specific rules need to be followed. In New […]