Family trust elections (FTEs), and the related interposed entity elections (IEEs), have been a feature of the tax law for almost 30 years with the rules effectively unchanged since 2007.

Settlement agreements are not always effective to bring the dispute between the parties to an end. That is they do not ‘stick’, despite the efforts of the parties, their advisers, or others associated with formation of terms.

Merchant in a post-Budget world or when High Court anti-avoidance doctrine meets structural trust reform.

What is payroll tax?

• State and Territory based tax.

• Victoria imposes payroll tax on wages over $900,000:

  • 4.85%

  • 1.2125% for regional Victorian employers

  • Threshold phases out between $3 million and $5 million

  • Extra 1% total surcharges for national payroll above $10 million or 2% over $100 million.

• Threshold reduces to reflect Victorian % of total Australian wages.

• Top rate in other Australian jurisdictions include 5.45% in New South Wales and can be up to 7.35% (in ACT).

On 18 November 2025, ATO guidance QC 105857 was updated after the ATO raised concerns with arrangements where newly incorporated beneficiary companies claim franking credits.

Stamp duty in Victoria is becoming increasingly complex, with new SRO approaches, legislative reform, and expanding anti-avoidance focus. This session explores how duty applies in modern transactions and identifies key emerging risks.

This article explores the interaction between deceased estates and Div 7A, highlighting the obligations of executors, ATO views, and practical strategies to mitigate risk.

The small business capital gains tax (CGT) concessions (Concessions) in Division 152 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (ITAA 97) offer significant opportunities to reduce or eliminate tax levied on capital gains. However, despite a recent judicial pronouncement that the Concessions should be interpreted beneficially, the legislative conditions for relief are intricate and complex.

This paper equips SME and private-wealth advisers to identify when "big-end" corporate tax rules affect their clients and when to escalate to specialist advice. The five regimes covered are: Debt Deduction Creation Rules (DDCR), thin capitalisation, transfer pricing, hybrid mismatches, and taxation of financial arrangements (TOFA).

Stop the press on 11 February 2026, the Div 296 was introduced into parliament, now renamed to be Treasury Laws Amendment (Building a Stronger and Fairer Super System) Bill 2026. This paper was drafted before the introduction of the Bill to parliament. We have therefore modified the paper to take into account the relatively minor changes.

Testamentary discretionary trusts can still be an effective estate planning tool for global families when carefully structured, with consideration given to residency of beneficiaries, control and tax treatment across jurisdictions.

Irrespective of whether UPEs are loans under Div 7A or not, what is often forgotten is that dealing with UPEs can result in capital gains for beneficiaries.

Where there has been land consolidation, how does this affect the application of the main residence exemption for deceased estates?

The general requirement of a self managed superannuation fund (SMSF) is that all members must be trustees of the SMSF or directors of the SMSF corporate trustee.

Increasingly, individuals hold a substantial amount of their wealth within the superannuation system. Productivity Commission research paper, Wealth transfers and their economic effects, December 2021 provides as follows:

A reasonable period has elapsed since the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) issued its guidance material (Taxation Ruling TR 2022/4 and Practical Compliance Guideline PCG 2022/2) on the application of section 100A of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (ITAA 1936), dealing with reimbursement agreements. So, where are we now at with this contentious section of the ITAA 1936 and the ATO's compliance approach in practice? This paper investigates further, including:

Over the course of ownership of a property, its use or intention for use can change, and depending on what that change is, there can be significant income tax implications that need to be addressed. This paper looks at some of those changes and the tax consequences that can follow, including:

The court has powers under legislation and under its inherent supervisory jurisdiction to vary trusts to ensure that they may be duly executed in certain circumstances.

This article questions the constitutional validity of family trust distribution tax, arguing that it functions more as a penalty than a tax.