Do you have companies and trusts in your family/business group structure? If so, please read on for very important information that you need to know and action now.

The start of a brand new year is always a great time to review and take stock of where you are at and where you are going.  This is also true with your group structure.  Tax and State laws change, best practices continually emerge and new cases bring light to issues and risks that can be mitigated with proactive action.

We would like to highlight two very important issues relating to your structure that you need to consider NOW:

Update your Trust Deed

If you own property in your trust, or intend to own property in your trust – you must take specific action NOW to avoid horrendous tax outcomes.

New State Laws were introduced late last year in NSW (other States will follow suit) which impact trusts that owns property, or an interest in property.

The change in law requires you to review and update your Trust Deed to ensure it is not a ‘deemed foreign trust’.  If you do not review and update your Trust Deed, the following consequences can occur:

  • The ATO may deem your trust to be a ‘foreign trust’;
  • The income of the trust may attract the highest rate of tax;
  • State based surcharge duties may be applied; and
  • Land tax surcharges may be applied.

What should I do now?

If the above applies to you, please contact us IMMEDIATELY and we can assist with the necessary review and updates to your Trust Deeds.

Even if you don’t own property through your trust, it is best practice to review and update your trust deed on a regular basis to keep up to date with ever changing laws.  If you haven’t updated your trust deed within the last 3 years, we strongly recommend you consider updating your trust deed now.

 

Successor director for your company

As a director of your company, have you ever considered what might happen to the control of your company (and its assets) if you are incapacitated in any way, or die?

Without proper asset protection and estate planning, your company may not be able to operate as there is no person properly authorised to manage the company. Or, other people could make decisions that do not benefit you or your family.

For these reasons, you should consider nominating a Successor Director to your company.  The Successor Director can instantly take your place to ensure the protection and control over the assets in your companies and your trusts that have a corporate trustee in place.

Next steps

If you would like more information on nominating a Successor Director, please respond to this email and we will send you further information for your consideration.

We look forward to hearing from you!