The Tax Office recently released its long-awaited guidance on how it will treat distributions from a family trust in situations where it believes that someone other than the recipient of the trust distribution will actually obtain the benefit of it, and the reason for distributing to the initial recipient was to save tax.
estate planning
Paying your super to the grandchildren
Clients regularly ask whether when they die, they can give their superannuation to their grandchildren. The short answer is “no”. Superannuation death benefits can only be paid directly from your fund to your estate, your spouse, your children, people with whom you are in an interdependent relationship, or your financial dependents.
ATO shoots itself in the foot: tax return must be signed by Administrator
The ATO refuses to accept a tax return from an intestate deceased estate unless it is signed by the Administrator of the estate. But what if there is no Administrator? Townsends’ Dominique Perry explains.
Lost deeds can destroy the trust
Trusts are most commonly established by a deed. Those deeds contain the terms or rules the control how the trust can be used, and the rights and duties the various parties to the trust have or owe. In our experience, trust deeds are regularly misplaced and lost.
A power of attorney doesn’t always have to endure
When giving someone a limited power to do something specific on your behalf, you may not want that power to continue for very long.
Superannuation member benefit vs death benefit
When there is no tax dependent to receive a member’s superannuation death benefits tax-free, a potential tax saving strategy is to withdraw their entire super benefits prior to their death. The money then becomes their ‘personal asset’ which can be distributed tax-free to any non-tax-dependants such as the member’s independent adult children.
Does a discretionary trust protect beneficiaries? Part 1
Dominique Perry from Townsends Lawyers has produced a two-part overview looking at whether a discretionary trust protects beneficiaries. This is the first in the series.
SMSF: When a member has a terminal medical condition
When an SMSF member is diagnosed with a terminal medical condition, it is not only devastating news to them but also to those close to them. With perhaps little time left, planning for their loved ones is usually paramount.