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:

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.

With the best of intentions an estate plan often sets out to treat the beneficiaries on equal terms. However, it may not be until the estate is being administered that tax rears its head in some form or another so that one beneficiary’s share is diminished by the potential tax consequences attached to a certain asset including superannuation.

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has made it clear: when a self managed superannuation fund (SMSF) receives services or assets on non-commercial terms - or fails to incur necessary expenses - the result can be harsh. Non-arm’s length expenditure (NALE) can trigger nonarm’s length income (NALI), exposing the fund to significant tax consequences.

Contrary to the Commissioner’s long-held view, the Full Federal Court has unanimously held that unpaid present entitlements owing to corporate beneficiaries are not loans under Div 7A.

Before concluding that you have a family trust distribution tax liability, have you considered whether the trustee of the family trust has complied with the trust deed?

This paper tracks the legislative development of the unfair contract terms regime, recaps the basic elements and exemptions to the regime’s application and then recounts the historic development of the case law in respect of the regime.

This paper provides a basic outline of the key provisions of the Personal Properties Securities Act 2012 (Cth) (PPSA) and a detailed examination of eight cases adding to our understanding of the application of the PPSA to varying factual scenarios.

Given this is a superannuation conference, most of the presentations will be dealing with the uses of, and issues with, superannuation and self managed superannuation funds (SMSFs).

The application of vacant residential land tax to holiday homes has caused much anxiety recently, particularly where that holiday home is held in a trust.

NALI/NALE has been a hot topic in recent years. Now the dust has settled, this two part article will examine the rules interactions with trusts.

Green finance in Australia aims to facilitate the transition to a low-carbon economy while providing economic growth opportunities.

The use of a rarely used “anti-avoidance” provision, which triggers landholder duty when there is a change of control of the trustee of a unit trust, has been upheld by VCAT.