Strategic Tax Advisory

Who comes to us for this

Nobody asks for tax advice in the abstract. There is a decision coming up, or an ATO letter on the kitchen bench. People usually put it like this:

• The business made far more this year, and I only found out what the tax would be when the return was done.
• We're buying a second investment property and haven't worked out whose name it should go in.
• There's a loan account in the company that has grown for years and nobody has looked at it properly.
• The ATO has written asking for the records behind my last two returns.
• I've fallen behind on BAS and the debt keeps getting bigger.

What the work involves

Planning while the year is still open

Planning only helps while a decision can still change the result. By return time, the year is history. We take the year-to-date numbers from your Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks file, project where the year will land, and talk through what is still in your hands before 30 June: when to buy an asset, how much to put into super, whether to pay a bonus or a dividend, and what the trust resolution should say.

If your income has dropped you can vary your PAYG instalments when you lodge the activity statement, on or before the day the instalment is due. Vary too far, so that your instalments come in under 85% of the tax you end up owing, and the ATO can charge general interest on the difference (ATO guidance).

Property, before the contract is signed

Queensland land tax is worked out on the land you own at midnight on 30 June. An individual is liable once the total taxable value of their freehold land reaches $600,000; a company, or the trustee of most trusts, at $350,000 (QRO land tax). Decide who owns it before you sign. Moving it to a different owner later, even a family member with no money changing hands, usually attracts transfer duty on its market value (QRO transfer duty).

A residential building whose construction started after 15 September 1987 can usually be written off at 2.5% a year of what it cost to build, not what you paid for it (ATO guidance). Items that came with a second-hand home, such as the stove or the air conditioner, generally cannot be depreciated if you bought after 7:30 pm on 9 May 2017. New items you install can (ATO guidance).

The bigger change is already law. From 1 July 2027 negative gearing on residential property is limited to new builds, with properties held at 7:30 pm AEST on 12 May 2026 exempt, and the 50% capital gains discount for individuals, trusts and partnerships is replaced by cost-base indexation and a 30% minimum rate on gains accruing after that date (ATO guidance).

Division 7A and the company loan account

When a private company lends money to a shareholder or associate, or pays their private bills, the amount can be treated as a dividend in that person's hands unless it is repaid before the company's lodgment day or put under a written agreement by then. The agreement must charge at least the benchmark rate, which is 8.77% for the year ending 30 June 2027, and run for at most seven years, or 25 years if the whole loan is secured by a registered mortgage over real property worth at least 110% of the loan when it is made (ATO guidance).

We reconcile the loan account from its opening balance, check the agreement exists and was signed in time, and work out how each year's minimum repayment, due from the year after the loan, will be met: in cash, or by a dividend or salary offset against the loan. Each route has a different tax cost.

Since the High Court's Bendel decision in June 2026, the ATO no longer treats a company's unpaid entitlement from a trust as a Division 7A loan where the company has taken no action on it. Other rules, including section 100A, can still apply, and an entitlement that was already paid out or converted into a loan stays converted (ATO decision impact statement).

When the ATO gets in touch

The ATO's own guidance says that checking your affairs does not mean it thinks you have been untruthful (ATO guidance). It does mean a deadline. We read exactly what has been asked, gather the records that answer it, and reply in writing as your registered tax agent.

If something was wrong, say so first. Telling the ATO before it says it will examine your affairs cuts some penalties by 80%, and a shortfall under $1,000 disclosed then generally attracts none. After that point the reduction is 20%, and only if the disclosure saves the ATO significant time (ATO guidance). If we think a decision is wrong we can object, within a limit of 60 days to four years depending on the decision (ATO guidance).

With overdue lodgments and a debt, the lodgments come first. A debt of $200,000 or less can usually go on a payment plan, set up online or by us as your agent (ATO guidance). Interest keeps compounding daily on a plan, and new amounts must be lodged and paid on time while it runs.

How an engagement runs

How fees work for this service

Advisory work is scoped and the fee agreed before we begin. An ATO matter is harder to scope on day one, because the work depends on what the ATO asks. If its questions widen, we agree the extra work and its fee with you before doing it. How our fees work has more.