Farm Business Structuring and Rural Estate Planning – a recorded half-day online conference

Hear from the experts at this online conference. You can watch it on your computer or on your portable electronic device from anywhere.

The conference will be based on our highly successful video webinar technology: there'll be a chairperson and presentations.

One registration can be shared by colleagues within the same firm utilising the same login.

THE PROGRAM

Session 1: Business Structures for the Family Farm

To successfully manage and run the family farm a solid foundation needs to be established. This foundation can be composed of various structures and strategies - each with their own risks and benefits. How primary producers can best position themselves is discussed in this session:

• Structures available for the family farm - an overview
• Managing business risk whilst maintaining traditional ownership structures:
  • separating land ownership from the farming business
  • use of family trusts, unit trusts and partnerships in faming ownership and business
• New business models - advising clients who are looking to enter into share farming joint ventures
• Advising on external sources of capital and investment

Session 2: Handing Over the Keys to the Tractor – Key Legal Imperatives in Rural Succession Planning

An important key to the continuation of family farming is the smooth succession by subsequent generations. This session discusses the options available to pass on the farm and how to minimise family discord, including:

• Transferring pre and post death - key considerations
• Considering the different ownership options in the context of succession planning
• What finance options are available - banks and internal family loans
• Managing expectations amongst siblings and dealing with city versus farming kids
• The use of family meetings and deed of family agreement to minimise disputes
• Key hotspots to consider:
  • who occupies the homestead?
  • location of key infrastructure
  • managing the cash needs of off-farm children
  • future-proofing the farm wealth
• Case Study: When things go wrong - Part IV applications or divorce

Session 3: Restructuring Ownership of the Family Farm – Managing the Tax and Retirement Consequences

Providing advice about succession is an important part of any rural or regional practitioner’s role. When the farm or its assets are transferred to the next generation tax liabilities may be triggered. Primary producers have specific concessions available to them and this session will discuss some of the tax relief and Centrelink benefits available to farmers in the succession process:

• Transferring the family farm pre or post death - understanding the tax consequences
• Dismantling corporate or trust entities - extracting profits or share capital tax-effectively
• Transferring plant, equipment and livestock tax effectively
• Stamp duty exemptions on transfers of land used for primary production
• Capital gains tax exemptions, rollovers and asset reductions that are available
• Triggering a change in pre-CGT status - avoiding unwanted outcomes in the succession plan
• Family trust operating the farm and excluding beneficiaries - will this trigger stamp duty or CGT liabilities?
• Tax effective retirement funding for the farming parents
• Centrelink considerations for the parents when determining the succession plan