Live Webinar: Corporate Beneficiaries After the Federal Budget: Still Useful or a Tax Trap?

For many years, distributing trust income to corporate beneficiaries has been a common strategy to cap tax at the company rate and defer tax outcomes for family groups. But with the Federal Budget proposing a new 30% minimum tax on discretionary trust distributions from 1 July 2028, advisers must now reconsider whether traditional bucket company strategies still deliver the intended benefits — or whether they risk creating new layers of complexity and tax exposure. This session examines how the proposed reforms may reshape the use of corporate beneficiaries and the practical planning issues that now arise. It covers:

• How the proposed 30% minimum tax on discretionary trust distributions may alter the effectiveness of traditional bucket company arrangements
• hen the 25% base rate entity tax rate can apply to a company beneficiary (LCR 2019/5) and the ongoing pros and cons of using corporate beneficiaries in modern trust structures
• Key risk areas when distributing trust income to companies, including Division 7A, Section 100A, family trust distribution tax, and the 45-day holding period rule
• Practical issues in managing retained profits and subsequent dividend payments from corporate beneficiaries, including shareholder structures, franking credits and dividend timing
• Whether restructuring from a trust to a company may now become more attractive under the proposed reforms and how the proposed CGT changes may affect the ongoing choice between trusts, companies and corporate beneficiaries