Your Tax Trust Checklist

Trust tax changes: your checklist before you talk to anyone

If your business or investments sit in a family trust, the proposed tax changes are worth getting your head around. There's no need to rush, and there's plenty you can do now to be ready. Tick off what you can, then bring it to a conversation with us.

Tick items as you go

Your ticks are remembered on this device, so you can come back to it.

1. Know your trust

Your trust deed.Find the original and every amendment. If you can't find it, that's the first job. What type of trust you have.Discretionary, fixed, unit, testamentary, deceased estate, special disability or farming? Check the deed, not just the trust's name. Who the trustee is.An individual or a company? Who the beneficiaries are.Include adult children and any bucket company.

2. Know your income

Recent trust tax returns and distribution statements.The last two or three years is a good start. What type of income flows through the trust.Business, investment, rental, farm income or something else? Who received distributions, how much, and what tax each paid on it. Any bucket company.How much it has received and is holding from trust distributions.

3. Know what the trust owns

Your assets.Business, property, investments, and who holds them. Where your deductions sit.Deductions follow the asset, so they can't simply move into your name while the income stays in the trust. Farming trust?List farm leasing income, farmhouse rent and off-farm investments separately from primary production income. Wills and succession arrangements.Do they refer to the trust?

4. Think about what you need the trust to do

Who relies on distributions today, and who might in five, ten or twenty years?An adult child who's studying now could be on a high income later. How much you value flexibility.Being able to change who receives income each year. How much you rely on the trust for asset protection and succession planning. What's coming up in your business or family.Growth, a sale, a new venture, retirement.

5. Know your three options

Keep the trust and make an Excluded Election Trust nomination.Could you live with fixed beneficiaries and percentages, and very little room to change them? Restructure or roll over.Have you considered GST, stamp duty, legal fees, valuations and cash flow, as well as asset protection and flexibility? Keep the existing arrangement.Have you compared the additional tax with the cost and consequences of changing?

6. Before you change anything

Get legal advice before amending a trust deed.Changes could be treated as creating a new trust. Don't bank on a future government reversing the changes. Book a chat with us.So we can look at your own numbers.

Key proposed dates

1 July 2027Expanded rollover window opens.

1 July 2028Minimum 30% trustee tax on relevant discretionary trust income starts.

30 June 2030Rollover window closes.

Not sure where you stand?

Get in touch with us to talk through your current structure, how the proposals could apply and the options worth considering.

Book a chat with PTP Or call 03 5821 8644

Creating dreams worth fighting for.

General information only. These proposals are draft legislation, which may change. Seek personalised advice before making decisions.