Tax rules make more sense attached to a real situation
Explained only in technical terms, structuring and CGT are abstract. Attached to an actual client file — a couple buying a third property, a doctor holding everything in one trust, a trustee who signed a resolution three days late — the consequences become obvious.
A small difference in ownership, timing, documentation or intention can produce a completely different result. That is the point of reading these: not to find your own answer, but to recognise the question early enough that it can still be answered well.
The lessons that keep repeating
Two properties, one structure problem
A third purchase looked like a simple repeat of the first two. Modelling the land tax aggregation and the eventual exit showed it was not.
Sole trader to company before the growth year
A $1.4M turnover trades business was still trading in the owner's personal name, with every dollar of profit taxed at the top marginal rate.
Commercial premises moved into super
Two practice principals were paying market rent to a third party while holding substantial balances in retail super funds.
A sale timed across two financial years
A long-held rental was going to be sold in the same financial year as a redundancy payment, taxing the entire gain at the top rate.
A deed that no longer matched the family
A 2004 discretionary trust deed excluded later-born grandchildren and did not permit streaming of franked dividends.
Everything in one trust — including the family home
A doctor had been advised to hold every asset — practice, investments and the family home — inside a single trust.
A distribution resolution made three days late
The annual distribution resolution was signed in July. With no valid appointment of income by 30 June, the trustee was assessed at the top rate.
Foreign property sold after migrating to Australia
A newly arrived family sold an overseas apartment and a gold holding, assuming pre-arrival assets were outside the Australian system.
A duplex build and the revenue-versus-capital line
A couple subdivided, built a duplex, kept one and sold the other — expecting the CGT discount and having never considered GST.
Outcomes described are specific to each client's circumstances and are not a prediction of results in your own situation. Details have been generalised and figures rounded to protect client confidentiality.
Bring these and the first meeting goes further
None of it needs to be tidy. What matters is that we can see the actual structure rather than a description of it.