Tax and Structuring

Whether you’re setting up a new business, buying one or selling out, it is important to consider how the business is structured to optimise asset protection and minimise tax. This can have an enormous impact on the business’s growth potential and profitability. Getting the business structure and tax strategy in place early sets you up for the future. Furthermore, this protects the assets and goodwill of the business, minimising the potential for issues with the Australian Tax Office.

We want to help our clients grow.

Our lawyers don’t just tell you about the law, they’re business advisors who work with you on what you need to make your business a success. Utilising our experience in tax law and how to make it work ensures you can develop your business or get the most out of it when the time comes. In addition, the tax team work closely with accounting practices, providing a service that bridges the gap between accounting and the law on areas such as State tax exemptions, payroll tax de-grouping and retention of ABN restructures.

Macpherson Kelley’s tax team are respected within the industry and are listed in Doyle’s Guide 2023 as a Recommended Tax Law firm.

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services

Asset protection
Business structure/restructuring
Duties
Land Tax
Payroll Tax
Ruling & Objections for State and Federal tax
State and Federal tax disputes
Tax structuring
Trusts

Asset protection
Business structure/restructuring
Capital raising
Consolidated groups
Duties
Land Tax
Mergers and acquisition/demergers
Payroll Tax
Property distributions and vesting
Ruling & Objections for State and Federal tax
Sale of business/equity
State and Federal tax disputes
Tax disputes management and resolution
Tax risk management
Trust structures

recent experience

division 7a relief

This particular client had ventured out of their usual practice of using companies to acquire their investments and had bought two Queensland properties as investments via a discretionary trust. The Division 7A repayments had become burdensome. The Tax team facilitated a restructure to corporatise the discretionary trust without duty so as to eliminate the Division 7A loan.
restructuring to grow

An IT company wanted to raise money from investors to help it grow. Their options were limited because the company was structured as a trust, to going to a bank and taking out a loan. The company didn’t want to take on debt and instead wanted to bring in new equity investors. We advised on how to restructure the company so they could raise capital from new investors by issuing equity in the company. The company successfully raised what it needed to expand its business and is realising its growth strategy.
streamlining company for sale

The way in which a pharmaceutical company was structured was not attractive to potential purchasers, meaning our client was not on a good footing to negotiate the best sale price. We advised the client on how to restructure its businesses and property holdings into a more streamlined structure to facilitate a ‘cleaner’ sale. In addition, we ensured the restructure took advantage of available CGT and stamp duty exemptions. The restructure resulted in no adverse tax and stamp duty consequences and when it came time to sell, the new, simpler legal structure resulted in a tangible increase in the purchase price offered by the purchaser.
getting established for global expansion

After a successful pharmaceutical consulting firm won a tender to provide services to a large Hong Kong company, the owners called on Macpherson Kelley to advise them on their international expansion. They wanted a new corporate structure to enable them to expand to Hong Kong and more countries in the future. The restructure also needed to be tax effective and flexible as they planned to sell down some of their shareholding to private equity investors and list on the share market in the future. We helped the owners navigate complex international tax issues, enabling them to expand to Hong Kong. We also connected them to our network of corporate advisors to help them sell down to private equity and plan their initial public offering.