Family trusts have always been an important structure for business planning, tax planning and estate planning, mainly due to their tax efficiency, asset protection, flexibility and succession possibilities.
Family Trusts
Family trusts more important than ever
Family trusts are increasingly being used for retirement planning purposes since the Government introduced more measures to limit the ability to make both concessional and non-concessional contributions to superannuation funds.
Tax, trusts and the Federal Opposition
A statement by Townsends Law in response to the Opposition’s comments on discretionary trusts. To say businesses or families are using family trusts in order to evade tax is absolute nonsense. Overwhelmingly, they use trusts for two main reasons: Firstly, for legitimate asset protection. Without trusts we would see a lot less entrepreneurship and risk […]
Key issues in estate planning using trusts
A look at two important family trust issues that advisers may come across in establishing or managing the workings of a client’s estate planning using trusts. Issue #1: Who should be the Appointor of my Family Trust? When completing an instruction form for arranging a new family trust for a client, it is very likely […]
AAT upholds VA assessment of controlled private trust
The AAT has upheld a Veterans’ Affairs assessment of a trust as a controlled private trust for the purposes of applying the Veterans’ Affairs means test to the principal of the trust. The trust was a non-discretionary family trust with the principal’s daughter as the sole director of the corporate trustee. The principal settled property […]
Calls to review taxation of family trusts unfounded, according to industry lawyer
“Whatever real tax ‘loopholes’ that previously might have existed in relation to the use of family trusts are well and truly gone,” says Brian Hor from Townsends. Calls for family trusts to pay full capital gains tax amid estimates that revenue leakage associated with such trusts tops $1 billion a year are misguided, according to […]