Share Transfer vs Share Buy Back – what’s the difference?

Current as of April 2017   Where two or more unrelated shareholders trade through a company, there often comes a time where they part ways, presenting a need for one of the shareholders to exit the company. Broadly, this can be achieved either by the departing shareholder selling his shares to the remaining shareholder, or alternatively by the company itself … Read More

February 2017 Newsletter

Current as of March 2017   ATO TO REPORT BUSINESS TAX DEBTS TO CREDIT REPORTING BUREAUS From 1 July 2017 the ATO will be allowed to disclose tax debt information to Credit Reporting Bureaus. To avoid being impacted by these new measures you should read our full article. SMSF PROPERTIES – WHAT CAN AND CANNOT BE DONE TO THEM? Are … Read More

Foreign Person and Land Tax Surcharge problem in family trusts

Current as of January 2017   From 31 December 2016 discretionary trusts (commonly known as family trusts) holding residential properties could be subjected to the foreign person rule and could be liable for an extra 0.75% land tax cost on the unimproved land value of the residential property (on top of the existing 1.6%). Example Family Trust A has a … Read More

Does your business structure still fit?

Current as of June 2016   A couple of vital changes in our tax laws are due to commence from 1 July 2016, and they’ll provide a big opportunity to small businesses to restructure. At the federal level, the new small business restructure roll-over (SBRR) kicks in, allowing small businesses to restructure in a tax neutral way. At the same … Read More

Time to review your business structure

Current as of January 2016 For small businesses, there’s never been a better time to review the effectiveness of your business structure. In the last Federal Budget, the government announced new measures to allow small businesses to change their legal structure without incurring a capital gains tax liability. Draft legislation was released in November, and the new measures are proposed … Read More

NEW EMPLOYEE SHARE SCHEME RULES

Current as of July 2015   Our business clients are often interested in rewarding their staff with equity in the business. They see it as an opportunity for employees to have skin in the game, with the obvious motivational and staff retention benefits. Unfortunately, the issue of shares or options to employees means the employee often pays tax on the … Read More

LAST MINUTE TAX TIPS

Current as of June 2015 Tax planning is a year-round activity at Stanley & Williamson, but June is the time to double check that any critical actions are taken before 30 June. We’ve spoken to lots of clients throughout the year and especially over the last few weeks about actions to take for their individual circumstances, but as we approach … Read More

Which structure is best for you? – Unit Trusts

Current as of October 2014 Following on last issue’s article on discretionary trusts we now discuss another type of trust,  that is,  the unit trust. A unit trust (UT) is not a separate legal entity but is recognised separately for tax purposes. In a UT the unitholders have a fixed right to the income or capital of the trust and … Read More

Which structure is best for you? – Partnerships

Current as of October 2014 In our continuing series of reviews on business structures we now turn our attention to the partnership business structure. Partnerships are relationships between partners carrying on a business in common with a view to profit. This is different to a joint venture where the joint venturers share gross income, rather than net profit, and incur … Read More

Which structure is best for you? – Partnership of family trusts

Current as of October 2014 In the last of our series on the different structures available to you we look at a combination of 2 structures we have looked at in previous issues. That is, a partnership of Family Trusts. As you will have noted from the discussion on a partnership structure, one of the main downsides of the structure … Read More