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Wealth

Wealth structuring.

For most business owners the private balance sheet is the least examined asset in the family — where the proceeds of the business end up, and where the tax consequences are decided years after the sale.

01 · Scope

What this covers.

  • Asset protection — separating personal wealth from business risk
  • How assets are held: individuals, trusts, companies and superannuation
  • Retirement and superannuation strategy ahead of and after the sale of a business
  • Succession and intergenerational transfer
  • Estate coordination with your solicitor, including testamentary trusts
  • Coordination with lenders on gearing and security
  • Family governance: how decisions are made once there is more than one generation

02 · The work

The business and the family, on one set of accounts.

A business owner's wealth is usually concentrated, illiquid and pledged as security. That is a reasonable position while the business is growing and a dangerous one the year before it is sold. The work is to move value out of the operating risk without triggering a tax event that costs more than the protection is worth.

We look at the whole picture: what is held where, who controls it, what happens on death or divorce, what the tax cost of moving it would be, and what the family actually wants to happen. Then we write it down. A structure that only exists in the adviser's head is not a plan.

Decisions are made deliberately and in order — the structure first, then the transfer, then the will, then how the proceeds are held once they arrive. Doing them in the wrong order is how families end up paying duty on their own generosity.

03 · Boundaries

What we advise on, and what we do not.

Liu & Associates is an accounting practice, not a licensed financial adviser. We do not hold an Australian Financial Services Licence, and we do not give personal financial product advice — no recommendation to buy, hold or sell a particular investment, and no commission from anyone who sells one.

What we do is the work underneath it: which entity holds an asset, the tax cost of moving it, how income and capital gains are treated, and what happens to it on death or sale. That is accounting and tax, given by a registered tax agent.

Where a matter needs product advice, we will tell you at the first meeting rather than at the end of an engagement, and work with your existing adviser or help you find one.

Details

Questions we are asked

Should investments be held in my own name, a trust or a company?
There is no default answer, and anyone who gives one before asking questions has skipped the work. It turns on the asset class, how long it will be held, who the wealth is ultimately for, land tax in the relevant state, the ability to stream capital gains and income, and how much protection you need from creditors or a relationship breakdown. The structure is usually decided once and lived with for decades, which is why it is worth a proper review rather than a quick answer.
Do you give financial advice?
No. We do not hold an Australian Financial Services Licence and we do not recommend financial products — nothing here is advice to buy, hold or sell a particular investment. Our work is the tax and the structure underneath it: which entity holds an asset, what it costs to move, how income and gains are treated, and what happens on death or a sale. Where you need product advice, we work with the adviser you already have, or help you find one.
Can you work alongside my existing adviser and solicitor?
Yes, and it is usually the better arrangement. Wealth structuring crosses three disciplines — tax, legal and financial product advice — and the failure mode is each professional assuming another has checked something. We will coordinate with your solicitor and adviser directly, with your authority, and put the tax position in writing for them.
When should succession planning start?
Years before it is needed. A transfer that is planned can use concessions, timing and family trust elections that a transfer done in a hurry cannot. Once a sale is signed or an owner dies, most of the available options have already closed.

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Enquiries

Start with a conversation.

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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Or write directly to contact@liuandassociates.com.au