Sladen Snippet – Sladen Legal Principal Daniel Smedley Again Named As One Of Australia’s Best Lawyers
The Trust Structures Guide 2016 (11th Edition) has now been released
Sladen Legal is pleased to announce that the 2016 version of the Trust Structures Guide (written by Sladen Legal and published by The Tax Institute) is now available.
The Trust Structures Guide has long been considered to be invaluable guide for professionals advising on structuring and tax matters relating to trusts.
CGT issues when creating and dealing with UPEs
In December 2015, an article written by Sladen Legal's Sam Campbell was published in the Tax Institute’s Journal, Taxation in Australia.
The article discusses the tax issues raised when creating and dealing with unpaid present entitlements by trusts, including CGT issues, which should always be carefully considered before embarking on a proposed transaction.
Sladen Snippet - “Statute barred” loans and the Maximum Net Asset Value Test
The Full Court of the Federal Court has dismissed the taxpayer’s appeal in Breakwell v Commissioner of Taxation [2015] FCA 1471 and confirmed the earlier Administrative Appeals Tribunal decision to include an allegedly statute-barred loan of $1.1m in the calculation of the taxpayer’s net assets for the maximum net asset value (MNAV) test when determining the taxpayer’s eligibility for small business CGT concessions.
The taxpayer was the beneficiary and trustee of a family trust (ABFT), which was in turn the beneficiary of a unit trust (ETUT). In July 2007 the ETUT sold its finance broking business for $500,000. In its 2008 income tax return, the ETUT excluded the capital gain from the sale of the business by applying the small business CGT concessions.
Sladen Snippet – Full Federal Court confirms Dividend Access Share arrangement did not affect access to CGT small business concessions
The Full Federal Court dismissed the Commissioner’s appeal in Commissioner of Taxation v Devuba Pty Ltd [2015] FCAFC 168, confirming the earlier Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) decision that the existence of a dividend access share (DAS) arrangement did not affect the taxpayer’s ability to apply the capital gains tax (CGT) small business concessions to a capital gain arising from the disposal of ordinary shares in the applicant company.
The primary issue considered in that case was whether the existence of the DAS caused the taxpayer to fail to meet the small business participation percentage (SBPP) of 90%.
Sladen Snippet - Roll-over relief for Small Business Restructures
The Federal Treasury has released the Exposure Draft for the Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (2015 Measures No. 6) Bill 2015: Small business restructure rollovers to amend the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to allow small businesses to defer gains and losses arising from the transfer of capital gains tax assets, depreciating assets, trading stock and revenue assets between entities as part of a restructure.
The proposed amendments attempt to provide greater flexibility for small businesses to change the legal structure through which they operate without triggering adverse taxation consequences.
Hot Issues in Structuring and Rewarding Employees
On 28 October, 2015 Sladen Legal delivered a presentation on various topics in the area of Hot Issues in Structuring and Rewarding Employees.
Topics presented were:
- Professional Practices Structures – the ATO views and the law - Rob Jeremiah
- Superannuation and employees - Phil Broderick
- Employment risks in corporate and business restructures - Louise Houlihan
- The new employee share scheme regime – the promised land or a mirage? - Carlos Barros