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Taxation

Taxation strategy and compliance.

Tax is a year-round exercise. By the time a return is lodged, most of the decisions that determine the outcome have already been made.

01 · Scope

What this covers.

  • Structuring and restructuring of companies, trusts and partnerships
  • Trust distribution planning and trustee resolutions
  • Division 7A loans, shareholder dealings and complying agreements
  • Capital gains tax, including the small business concessions and rollovers
  • Business sales, share sales and pre-sale restructuring
  • ATO reviews, audits, objections and voluntary disclosures
  • GST, FBT and payroll tax obligations
  • Cross-border income for clients with overseas interests

02 · The work

A file the ATO can read without translation.

We prepare and lodge returns for companies, trusts, partnerships and individuals, and we prepare the reasoning behind them: the position taken, the authority for it, and the documents that support it. If a return is ever questioned, the answer should already be on file.

Planning happens before year end, not after it. We review the group and put the decisions in writing — how income is distributed, what the directors are paid, whether a related party loan needs a complying agreement, whether an asset is better sold this year or next. After 30 June the remaining options are disclosure and damage control.

Where the ATO disagrees, we run the correspondence. That includes the parts clients find hardest: the long silence while a case officer considers a position, and the decision about whether to settle or object.

03 · Clients

Who this is for.

  • Owner-managed companies and family groups with more than one entity
  • Businesses preparing to sell, restructure or bring in a partner
  • Private clients with trust, company and personal income to coordinate
  • Anyone who has received an ATO letter and wants it read properly

We also act for clients who already have an accountant and want a second opinion before a significant transaction. That work is scoped as a review, in writing, with the fee agreed before it starts.

Details

Questions we are asked

When should a trust distribution be decided?
By 30 June of the income year it relates to, unless the trust deed sets a different date. A resolution made after year end is not effective for that year, and an undocumented resolution is one of the most common sources of disputes with the ATO. We draft and minute resolutions before the deadline rather than reconstructing them afterwards.
What is Division 7A, and does it apply to my company?
It applies to most private companies. If a company lends money to a shareholder or their associate, pays private expenses on their behalf, or lets them use company assets, the ATO can treat the benefit as an unfranked dividend unless it is repaid or placed on a complying loan agreement with minimum yearly repayments at the benchmark interest rate. The rules are technical and the consequences are expensive, which is why the loan register is usually the first thing we ask for.
Is tax planning legal?
Yes, when it changes what you actually do: the year an asset is sold, the shape of a structure, how income is split between family members, when a contribution is made. It is not legal when the arrangement has no commercial purpose beyond the tax benefit — the general anti-avoidance provisions in Part IVA let the ATO cancel those, with penalties. We decline the second kind, and say why.
What happens if the ATO reviews my business?
We manage it. That means gathering the records, explaining the position in writing, and negotiating the outcome with the case officer. Many reviews end with a small adjustment or no change at all. Where an assessment is wrong we lodge an objection, and where the objection fails we can take it to the Administrative Review Tribunal.

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Tell us what you are trying to resolve. If we are not the right firm for the question, we will say so at the first meeting.

Enquiries are received by appointment, monday to friday, 8.30am – 5.30pm. We reply to every enquiry within one business day.

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