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Fact sheets for advisers
Short, practical notes on recurring tax issues — written to be read in five minutes and used with clients. Request any of them and we will send it through.
These are the issues that come up most often in the private groups we act for. Each fact sheet sets out the scenario, the law, who it affects and what to do about it. They are general information only and are not a substitute for advice on a particular matter.
Trusts
Section 100A — trust distributions
When a distribution can be treated as arising under a reimbursement agreement, and what the ordinary family or commercial dealing exclusion requires.
Trust vesting — tax consequences
What changes on the vesting date, and the income tax, CGT and duty consequences of a trust that has vested.
Trust deed variations
When a deed can be varied, when variation risks resettlement, and the traps in amendment powers.
Division 7A
Division 7A and commercial reality
How ordinary intra-group payments trigger deemed dividends under the interposed entity and repayment rules, without any shareholder benefit.
CGT
Small business CGT concessions
The basic conditions, the connected entity and affiliate rules, and where the concessions are most often lost.
The active asset test
What makes an asset active, the 7.5-year and half-period tests, and the treatment of assets used to derive rent.
Pre-CGT assets
Identifying whether pre-CGT status survives, and how majority underlying interests are traced.
Disputes
Default assessments — a practical guide
How default and estimated assessments are made, the burden of proof, and what a taxpayer has to establish to displace one.
GIC remission
The general interest charge, the grounds for remission, and what a remission request has to establish.
Penalty remission
Shortfall penalty categories, safe harbours, and how remission requests are decided.
Indemnity costs in tax litigation
When indemnity costs are awarded in tax proceedings, and what drives the discretion.
CGT and hardship
Release from tax liability on serious hardship grounds, and how the discretion is exercised.
GST
GST elections in business sales
Going concern, the margin scheme and the contractual mechanics that have to be in place before settlement.
State taxes
Landholder duty — leasehold improvements
How leasehold improvements are treated in the landholder duty threshold and the aggregation rules.
Income
PSI and income splitting
The personal services income rules, the results test, and where income splitting through a structure fails.
Intragroup deductions
Deductibility of intra-group service and management fees, and why informal arrangements fail.
Debt deduction creation rules
The DDCR and where they catch ordinary private group financing arrangements.
Cross-border
Section 99B — resident trust traps
Amounts paid or applied from a foreign trust to an Australian resident beneficiary, and the limits of the exceptions.
FBT
FBT and vehicle benefits
Car benefits, exempt vehicles, logbook requirements and the traps in dual cab and electric vehicle treatment.
Super
Superannuation changes 2026
The 2026 superannuation measures and what they mean for private groups and SMSF trustees.
Succession
Farm succession planning
Structuring intergenerational transfers of farming assets, and the concessions and duty exemptions available.
Deductions
Work-related and meal deductions
What the recent decisions establish about the deductibility of meal and travel expenses.
Practitioners
TPB registration and conduct
Registration requirements, the Code of Professional Conduct, and the consequences of breach.
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