Structures for Augustine Heights families on two incomes

St Augustine's College opened in 2003, the year the suburb was officially named. Land sales were promoted from 2009. Its western edge is Woogaroo Creek and its southern edge the Centenary Highway. Brookwater and its golf course are next door to the east.

The 2021 Census counted 6,088 residents with a median age of 31. Median household income was $2,484 a week, compared with $1,675 for Queensland, and in a third of couple families both partners worked full-time. Yet only 9.5% of homes were owned outright. Half carried a mortgage, with a median repayment of $2,158 a month, and most of the rest were rented.

Salary stays in your own name

Salary is taxed to the person who earns it, and setting up a trust or company doesn't move it. A structure only works on income from something it owns: a share portfolio, a rental, a business. For most households here, the question is where the next investment should sit.

The trust and the school fees

At the census roughly seven in ten secondary students living in Augustine Heights went to a Catholic or independent school. Across Queensland it was four in ten. A familiar idea follows: hold investments in a family trust and pay the income to the children, who have no other income, to cover the fees.

The rules were written to stop exactly that. On the ATO's rates for under-18s, a child's trust distribution above $416 is taxed at 66% of the excess, and once it passes $1,307 the whole amount is taxed at 45%.

Children aged 18 and over pay adult rates, so a trust can share income with a university student. The money has to be theirs, though. If it finds its way back to the parents under an understanding, the section 100A rules can tax the trustee at the top marginal rate instead.

Losses stay in the trust

Negative gearing works through your own return. A rental loss in your name reduces the tax on your salary, within the 2027 limits below. A loss made inside a trust can't be distributed to beneficiaries; it waits there until the trust has income to absorb it. Queensland land tax also starts earlier for a trustee, at $350,000 of taxable land value against $600,000 for an individual (Queensland Revenue Office).

For a first geared rental, then, a trust is often the wrong home. For an investment that produces income from the start it can be a better one. Changing your mind later costs money. Moving an asset you own into a family trust is generally treated as a disposal at market value for capital gains tax, and Queensland property attracts transfer duty on the way in.

A company is for a business

Managers and professionals made up 38.8% of working residents, against 33.9% across the state. When one of them leaves salaried work to consult, a company may make sense. The 25% rate belongs to base rate entities: turnover under $50 million and no more than 80% of income from passive sources such as rent, interest, dividends and net capital gains. A company that only holds investments pays 30%, and companies get no CGT discount.

If more than half of a consultant's income comes from their own skills and effort, the personal services income rules can apply and limit what a company changes. Our Division 7A guide covers the loans that catch owners taking money out.

Capital gains from 1 July 2027

For individuals, trusts and partnerships, the 50% discount is replaced by an indexed cost base and a minimum tax rate of 30%. The change is now law and applies to gains that accrue after 1 July 2027. From the same date, negative gearing on residential property is limited to new builds, though a property you already held at 7:30pm AEST on 12 May 2026 is exempt from that change.

An asset bought now and sold after mid-2027 will have both sets of rules applied to its gain, so model the sale before you decide whose name or which entity goes on the contract.

Working with us

We work with clients across Brisbane and Ipswich, and meet in person by arrangement or online. Every job has a fixed fee, agreed before we begin, and our fees page explains what shapes a quote. At the census 6.4% of residents here were born in New Zealand, and tax across the Tasman is the practice's specialty, so mention KiwiSaver or a property in New Zealand early. New clients can begin with a few questions about you; for anything else, get in touch.