Your Ultimate Guide to Smart Tax Planning: Tips and Strategies for 2024/25 

Tax planning

Tax season can be stressful, but a bit of smart planning can help you save significantly. Let’s walk through some essential tax planning tips and strategies for the financial year 2024/25, designed to help individuals and small businesses maximise their benefits and minimise their tax obligations.  Understanding Tax Planning  Tax planning involves arranging your financial …

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Property ownership in personal names – factors to consider 

Property ownership

Most investors tend to own property in their personal names. Regarding alternatives to personal name ownership, I have previously explained why I generally avoid using family trusts to own property – primarily due to higher land tax rates and the likelihood of not immediately benefiting from negative gearing. Additionally, last month, I discussed the potential …

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Property investment company: reduce CGT by 28%! 

CGT

Typically, accountants tend to advise against using a private company structure to hold geared property investments. However, investors shouldn’t automatically dismiss this approach, as it can provide substantial capital gains tax (CGT) savings.  Commonly cited disadvantages of a company ownership structure   There are two main disadvantages of using a company structure for property investment:  Although …

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2025 Federal Budget

2025 Budget

Tonight, the Albanese government released its federal budget for the 2025/26 financial year. Assuming the government is re-elected before the end of May 2025, here’s my clear and concise breakdown of the key announcements: Income tax cuts From 1 July 2026, the income tax rate on earnings between $18,201 and $45,000 will reduce by 1%, …

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Avoiding costly mistakes: Choosing the right property ownership structure  

property structure

Changing the ownership of a property is typically cost-prohibitive. This is mainly due to the potential stamp duty and capital gains tax liabilities that can arise.   Therefore, it’s vital to carefully consider the ownership structure right from the start. Once you’ve made that decision, it is likely that you will have to live with the …

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End of financial year tax planning tips for 2023/24 

tax

As we near the end of the financial year, it’s wise to reflect on how you can optimise your tax position for the 2023/24 financial year. Below, I’ve outlined the factors we typically consider when reviewing a client’s position.   Firstly, estimate your tax position   When undertaking tax planning, the initial step involves estimating your tax …

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Why common-sense tax reform is vital to Australia’s future

A few weeks ago, I discussed the limitations of using monetary policy – increasing interest rates – to tackle inflation. I highlighted that only 37% of Australians have mortgages, so they are the only ones that are directly affected by higher rates. Conversely, around 30% of Australians without mortgages benefit from higher interest rates as …

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What is more tax-effective, investing in property or shares?

Many people are attracted to borrowing to invest in property because of negative gearing tax benefits. That is, the (income) loss that an investment property generates helps reduce the amount of tax you pay on your salary or business income.   However, investing in shares also offers unique tax advantages. I thought it would be …

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2023 Federal Budget: What’s in it for you?

With the uncertain economic outlook, higher interest rates and cost-of-living burdens, Treasurer Jim Chalmers has handed down his second Budget on 9 May. The Treasurer has flagged the need for ongoing spending restraint, both to repair the budget and to ensure inflation continues to ease.  This blog summarises the initiatives contained in the 2023/24 Federal …

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Note to tax clients: Managing trust distributions

If you have a family trust that earns taxable income, there are several tax compliance matters that you must fulfil. Distributions to beneficiaries other than your spouse In 2022, the ATO issued Tax Ruling 2022/4: Income tax: section 100A reimbursement agreements. It relates to a section of tax law (S. 100A) that has always existed, …

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