Company & Trust formation

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Should you be looking at changing your structure from a sole trader? 

Key advantages:

• The law treats a company as a separate legal entity. This means that in general you will not be held personally responsible for the actions of your business. 
• Personal assets are protected
• Base rate entity company tax rate is 26% opposed to maximum individual rate of 45% 
• With the use of a trust you can distribute income across the family group to minimise tax

Asset Protection:

• Do you have personal assets you wish to protect? E.g. Family Home, shares, cash 
• Are you in an industry with a chance of being exposed to legal action? 
• Do you wish to separate the financial and taxation matters of the business from your own personal affairs?

Tax Minimisation:

• Do you have a spouse or kids you can split the income with? Opportunity to make use of each family members tax free threshold of $18,200 if over 18

Business Development/ Succession Planning:

• Do you want the business to grow in the future? Important to have structure right from the start
• Market perception - Do you require a company to imply a certain scale and level of seriousness to clients and suppliers that a sole trader structure doesn’t match?
• Will you be looking to sell the business at some point in the future? 

We can provide advice and assistance with establishing a company or trust and obtaining and ABN and tax file number (TFN) from the Australian Taxation Office.

We can set out the steps involved in starting a company.

This covers:

• Deciding if a company structure is right for you
• Choosing a company name
• Deciding how to operate your company
• Understanding your legal obligations as an officeholder
• Getting the consent of those involved in your company
• Registering your company, and
• Understanding your legal obligations regarding your company name, Australian Company Number (ACN) and Australian Business Number (ABN)