Month: July 2021

The Pros & Cons Of A Partnership As A Business Structure

Posted on by Adam_Admin

If you’re looking to go into business with someone, the chances are that you might be looking at using a business structure known as a partnership. A partnership is a type of business structure that is made up of two or more people who distribute income or losses between themselves and is a fairly popular form of structure amongst those looking to develop a business.

It offers ease and flexibility to run your business as individuals, eliminates the need to create a company structure and avoid reporting obligations. You’re also not going into creating a business by yourself, which can be an added bonus for some and reduces some of the initial financial burden and uncertainty of the setup.

Just as there are advantages to choosing to set up a partnership, one must also examine the disadvantages.

A partnership generally exists between two or more parties, so disagreements in management may occur, and decision-making may never be truly equal. It can be difficult to add or remove partners into and out of the partnership, and adding more partners can make the partnership more complex to manage.

Partnerships also generally do not receive access to many government grants (barring special exemptions).

A partnership business structure may be the structure for you to employ as they possess the following key elements:

  • Partnerships are relatively easy and inexpensive to set up
  • Have minimal reporting requirements
  • Require separate tax file numbers
  • Must apply for an ABN and use it for all business dealings
  • Share control and management of the business
  • Don’t pay tax on the income earned, as each partner pays tax on the share of the net partnership income that each receives
  • Do require a partnership tax return to be lodged with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) each year
  • Require each partner to be responsible for their own superannuation arrangements.

There are three main types of partnerships that you may have come across in your own research. Each one has advantages and disadvantages that you may want to take into account when considering what would be the best suited to your situation.

A general partnership is where all partners are equally responsible for the management of the business. For any debts and obligations that may be incurred by the business, each partner has unlimited liability for them.

A limited partnership is made up of general partners whose liability is limited to the amount of money that they have contributed to the partnership. Those involved in this style of partnership are known as limited partners who are usually passive investors without a role to play in the day-to-day management and running of the business.

An incorporated limited partnership is where the partners involved in this type of partnership can have limited liability, but at least one general partner must have unlimited liability. If the business cannot meet its obligations, that general partner (or partners) become personally liable for the shortfall and debts.

Each state and territory has different legislation and regulations that must be abided by when setting up a partnership. Learn what is legally required from you prior to setting up your partnership, or discuss with us what you may be obligated to do.

Using A Corporate Trustee Instead Of Individuals For A Family Trust

Posted on by Adam_Admin

A family trust is a great structure.  It provides tax flexibility whilst giving you asset separation in two directions.  But what does asset separation in two directions mean? And why might we suggest it to you as a recommendation?

First of all, why do you want asset separation? If there are multiple assets, you want to make sure that if someone makes a claim against the owner of a particular asset that your other assets can be quarantined from that claim. This isolation will mean that they can’t gain access to the assets that are yours and separate from the claim.

If you own a business and have a successful financial claim made against your business where the claim is for an amount that is more than the assets of the business, you will first need to use the business to cover the claim, and then find something additional to supplement the shortfall. In this case, if you also own your own home, and its worth is enough to cover that shortfall, it may be used to meet the claim by combining the business assets’ worth and the family home’s value. You could lose your family home!

However, if we structure your business in a particular way then the person making that claim will only have access to the assets in the business and you will be able to keep your family home.

This is what is called asset separation. Generally, it’s a good thing to employ, but it does have one flaw – it usually only goes one way.

If someone claims on your business, they won’t get the house but if they successfully make a financial claim against you, they will successfully get all of the assets that you own, including those of your business.  This is a risk that you must be willing to take if you own a business.

When you operate a business through a family trust instead of owning that business, you will merely “control” it, and have but a “mere expectancy” of being considered in the distribution of any profits or capital from that business.

The good part here is that although you only have a mere expectancy to be considered, we would set it up so it is YOU that “considers” who gets the money.  This means that if someone makes a claim against you then they can’t get access to assets in the family trust. What this does is give you two-way asset protection.

There is a bit of an issue with family trusts though – although you will see the debts of the trust as debts of the trust at law, they are in actual fact the debts of the trustee. If you are the trustee, all of the debts of the trust are your personal debts. You can use the trust assets to pay down those debts, but if the trust assets are insufficient to pay the debts, it will be up to you to pay off the rest.

When you’re an individual trustee of a trust, you lose the perk of asset separation, which is why a company may be used as a trustee, as the company does nothing other than act as the trustee of the trust. If there are insufficient funds in the trust to cover the debts of the trust, then those debts fall on the trustee and the creditors have no access to your personal assets because you have no individual debts owing.

Want to know more about asset separation? Interested in trusts? We’re here to help.

Receive A Relief Or Support Payment? Here’s What You Need To Watch Out For This Tax Season

Posted on by Adam_Admin

Have you, over the course of the past financial year, received a government assistance payment, support payment or disaster relief supplement?

There have been a number of cases where people who received financial assistance from the government were hit with additional owed tax to the ATO, due to their payments increasing their income threshold.

When lodging your individual income tax return this year, you will need to declare certain Australian Government payments, pensions and allowances in your tax return. If you did not elect to pay tax on those payments, this could affect the payment received from your return (or mean that you actually owe money to the ATO).

Some of the taxable payments that you may need to include in your tax return include:

  • the age pension
  • carer payment
  • Austudy payment
  • JobSeeker payment
  • Youth allowance
  • Defence Force income support allowance (DFISA) where the pension, payment or allowance to which it relates is taxable
  • veteran payment
  • invalidity service pension, if you have reached age-pension age
  • disability support pension, if you have reached age-pension age
  • income support supplement
  • sickness allowance
  • parenting payment (partnered)
  • disaster recovery allowance (but not in relation to 2019–20 bushfires)

Most of these pensions, payments and allowances will pre-fill in your tax return if you lodge online. You will need to make sure that all information submitted is correct though. Verify the pre-filled information with your own records to ensure that you are lodging the right information, and not missing anything.

Do you have concerns about your tax return this year? Uncertain about deductions, or if certain taxes will apply to you? Want a little more help or information about your government payments?

Be prepared for your individual income tax return with a consult with us. We can advise you on your tax returns, and potentially help you minimise the tax you will end up paying.

Choosing A Structure For Your Business: The Co-Operative Explained.

Posted on by Adam_Admin

Sometimes you might want to set up a structure where you will share in the spoils with everyone that deals with that structure.  There is a specific type of structure for this and it is known as a Co-Operative.

A co-operative business structure (or co-op) is a legally incorporated business entity that is designed to serve the interests of its members. Co-operatives may be profit-sharing enterprises or not-for-profit organisations.

A cooperative business serves members by providing goods and services that may be unavailable or too costly to access as individuals. There are two types of cooperatives that businesses can be set up as.

Distributing cooperatives are able to distribute any annual profits to members of the cooperative. They are required to share the capital that they make, and members of this type of cooperative must own the minimum number of shares specified in the co-op’s rules.

Non-distributing cooperatives cannot share their profits with members of the cooperative. All profits must further the cooperative’s purpose, and the cooperative may or may not issue shares to the members. Members may be charged a subscription fee if there is no share capital

Some popular cooperatives business structures include:

  • Consumer co-operatives, which buy and sell goods to members at competitive prices in a variety of sectors.
  • Producer co-operatives, which may process, brand, market and distribute members’ goods and services, or supply goods and services needed by their members, or operate businesses that provide employment to members.
  • Service co-operatives, which provide a variety of essential services to their members and communities.
  • Financial co-operatives, including co-operative banks, credit unions, building societies and friendly societies, which then provide investment, loan and insurance services to their members.