The ATO is increasing its scrutiny of family discretionary trusts (FTs) to ensure compliance with the family trust election (FTE) and interposed entity election (IEE) provisions in Schedule 2F of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (Cth) (ITAA 1936). Quite a number of these reviews are linked to the ATO’s ‘Next 5,000 private groups’ program [read more]
After several drafts and revised legislation, we now have a finalised ATO ruling on non-arm’s length income (NALI). On 24 September 2025, the ATO finalised LCR 2021/2 (Ruling) that clarifies the operation of the NALI provisions in s 295-550 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (Cth) (ITAA 1997) in respect of non-arm’s length expenditure (NALE) [read more]
Background On 13 October 2025, Treasury announced changes to the proposed ‘Better Targeted Superannuation Concessions (BTSC). These proposed laws, typically referred to as the Division 296 (Div 296) tax will be inserted in the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (Cth) (ITAA). On 14 October 2025 a Fact Sheet providing more information on these changes was [read more]
Special Disability Trusts (SDTs) can be an important estate planning tool for families seeking to provide financial security and structured support for a loved one with a severe disability. SDTs offer advantages over other trust structures. These include more favourable social security means testing and other tax concessions, such as unexpended income being taxed at [read more]
The trustees of self managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) must be aware of the non-arm’s length income (NALI) provisions and how they interact with other areas of tax and superannuation law. Part 4 of this series considers NALI interactions with contributions and the capital gains tax (CGT) provisions. Contributions and NALI Despite the recent changes to [read more]
Division 296 first floated in March 2023 A report on the proposed Division 296 tax, being an additional 15 per cent tax to future earnings of member balances above $3 million from 1 July 2025, was released by Treasury on 2 March 2023 titled ‘Impact Analysis Better Targeted Superannuation Concessions’ (Report). The Report examined how [read more]
Freedom of Information (FOI) laws provides individuals and private entities with powerful rights to access information held by government bodies. This article considers a taxpayer’s rights to make an FOI request to obtain information from the ATO in respect of their tax affairs. We discuss who can and how to lodge a request, the likely [read more]
This article focuses on when a non-arm’s length general expense (General NALE) in a self managed superannuation fund (SMSF) will give rise to a non-arm’s length income (NALI). This Part 3 examines General NALE found in subsections 295-550(8) and (9) of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (Cth) (ITAA 1997). Parts 1 and 2 and related articles are [read more]
DBA Lawyers latest SMSF governing rules and related documents include many value-added features. This article briefly explains why our SMSF documents are the best available. Recent changes to DBA Lawyers’ SMSF governing rules Our latest DBA Lawyers’ SMSF governing rules (version 2025-26) comes with the following updates: specific wording to provide for commutations of legacy [read more]
A DBA company offers many advantages not found anywhere else. The DBA constitution is strategically drafted for all companies including where the company will trade in its own right, or where it acts as the trustee of an SMSF, discretionary trust or unit trust. New companies are provided with our constitution at the outset and [read more]
