Free Trust Structure Diagnostic
Your accountant says wait. Here is what waiting costs.
A 30% minimum tax on family trusts is in a Bill before Parliament, proposed to start 1 July 2028. It is not law yet. But your trust already costs you money on profit you do not draw, and the reliefs that can shelter a restructure are settled law today. Waiting is a choice too. Know what it costs before you make it.
Free. Fourteen questions, about four minutes. It will tell you plainly if the answer is to do nothing yet.
Where the spare profit goes
$300,000 the family does not need to draw, beneficiaries already on the top rate
- Kept in the business
- Paid in tax
Two changes, at two very different stages
One is law. The other is a Bill. They deserve different responses.
Capital gains tax is settled
From 1 July 2027 the 50% discount is replaced, for individuals, trusts and partnerships, by cost base indexation and a 30% minimum tax on real gains. It passed Parliament in June 2026. The small business concessions survived, and the 50% active asset reduction extends to businesses turning over up to $10 million. What the capital gains changes mean for you
The trust tax is still a proposal
A 30% minimum tax on discretionary trusts is in a Bill introduced on 14 October 2026, proposed to start 1 July 2028. It is not law and may change, or may not pass. Primary production income and fixed trusts are excluded as introduced. The direction is clear enough to plan for, which means you can decide deliberately rather than under pressure.
Three ways to respond, and what waiting quietly costs
If the trust tax becomes law, every trust owner has three options. The first is to pay it, which costs nothing if your family group already pays an average rate above 30%. The other two are where the real decision sits.
Make the election
Nominate your beneficiaries, fix their percentages permanently, and step outside the regime without moving a single asset.
When it works
A family with a settled split that never really uses the trust’s discretion. Nothing is transferred, so it is not expected to trigger stamp duty.
The catch
The discretion is given up for good, and the election can only be made in one income year. Choose the wrong split and you live with it.
Restructure
Move the business out of the trust. The Bill proposes a rollover, available for three years from 1 July 2027, that defers the tax. That is what most advisers will point you to.
What a rollover really does
It carries your position across unchanged. Nothing is taxed and nothing is reset: you arrive in the new structure with the same embedded gain and the same limited ways to get value out.
What dealing with it now buys
The gain is brought to account at today’s value while the reliefs that can shelter it are settled law, which for many owners reduces it heavily, sometimes to nothing. That resets the position you carry forward. It depends on passing the concession tests and a defensible valuation, and it is not free.
Two examples, going opposite ways
The right answer depends on your numbers, not on the headlines. Here is how it plays out for two businesses.
Where restructuring is compelling
A manufacturing business turning over $4.2 million, held in a family trust and netting around $850,000 a year. Profit is split between two working spouses, with the balance parked in a bucket company. Both are in their late fifties and plan to exit in seven to ten years.
| What decides it | This business |
|---|---|
| Net assets | Under $6 million |
| Land in the structure | None |
| State | South Australia |
| Duty on the transfer | None on goodwill and plant |
| Our answer | Worth acting on |
Defer, and twenty years of goodwill carries across at close to nil cost base. Deal with it now, at an independent valuation, and the small business reliefs can cut the gain heavily, in some cases to nothing. They are left with a reset position and a more efficient way to draw value out before they sell.
Where waiting is the right answer
A services business turning over $3.5 million and netting around $220,000, distributed between two adult family members who both work in it. A commercial property sits in a related entity.
| What decides it | This business |
|---|---|
| Net assets | Over $6 million |
| Average tax rate today | Close to 30% |
| Beneficiaries to nominate | Two |
| Concessions available today | No |
| Our answer | Hold, revisit in 2027-28 |
Restructuring now would trigger a real gain with little to offset it. Waiting helps them: from 2027-28 the 50% active asset reduction extends to businesses turning over up to $10 million, and with their rate already near 30% the proposed tax may cost them little. We would tell them to hold, and we would not charge them to find that out.
Illustrative examples only. Figures are indicative and depend on eligibility tests, valuations and individual circumstances. They are not advice and should not be relied on.
Three reasons owners give for waiting
"The trust tax isn't law, so there's nothing to do."
The tax isn’t law. The cost is already here. A trust must distribute its income every year or the trustee is taxed at penalty rates, so profit you don’t need is taxed at somebody’s marginal rate. A trading company keeps what you don’t draw and pays 25% on it. That gap exists today, Bill or no Bill.
"My accountant says use the rollover later."
That advice is not wrong, and it is not free. A rollover defers; it resets nothing. Dealing with the value while the concessions are settled law can change your position permanently. Waiting is a decision to act later, under rules nobody has read yet.
"We already pay over 30%, so it won't affect us."
Then the minimum tax may cost you very little. But a group paying above 30% on profit it isn’t spending is paying more than a company would. That is a separate question, and often the more valuable one.
What the diagnostic tells you
Fourteen questions about your structure, your profit, how your distributions are actually made and where you are headed. It runs the same logic we would apply in a paid review, and gives you one of three answers.
Worth acting on
On your figures the return clears the threshold we use, and the decisions are still yours to make on your own timing.
Worth a conversation
The answer turns on figures a web form cannot see. Most owners land here, and it is the honest result.
Nothing to do yet
Your structure is fine for now. We tell you so, and what would change that.
Your numbers, worked through
Estimated tax across the family today and from 1 July 2028, and what a company would keep instead.
What is driving the answer
Which of your answers push toward acting, and which toward holding.
Your state's stamp duty position
Whether moving your business assets attracts duty where you are, and whether land changes the picture.
A report to keep
Your result on screen straight away, plus a PDF to download and share with your partner or accountant.
How it works
1
Answer fourteen questions
Multiple choice, in ranges. No documents needed, about four minutes.
2
Tell us where to send it
Your name, email and business name, so we can send your report.
3
See your answer
Your result appears on screen with a PDF to keep. Book a free clarity call if you want to talk it through.
Who it's built for
The diagnostic is built for owners with a family (discretionary) trust in their business structure.
A good fit if you
- A family trust runs your business or holds its assets
- Your profit runs ahead of what the family draws
- You have been told to wait for the rollover
- You are planning to hand the business on, or sell it
Not the right tool if
- There is no family trust in your structure
- Your trust holds only your home or personal investments
- You are after superannuation advice, which is out of scope
Built by business advisors who work on exits
Your Success Lab is an Adelaide-based business advisory and accounting firm. We work with owner-operators across Australia on growth, structure, succession and exit, so the 2027 line sits squarely in the work we already do.
The diagnostic uses the same thinking we bring to a first conversation. It will not replace advice, but it will tell you whether this deserves your attention now.
Founded by Andrew Mattner
25+ years in business, and has personally scaled 7 businesses
Directors Daniel Lalic and Christian Sloniec
Advisory, accounting, tax, succession and exit planning under one roof
Based in Adelaide
Level 7, 33 King William Street, working with owners Australia-wide
No. It is in a Bill introduced to Parliament on 14 October 2026, proposed to start 1 July 2028. It is not law and may change, or may not pass. The capital gains tax changes are different: they passed in June 2026 and apply from 1 July 2027.
Two reasons. A trust already costs you money on profit you do not draw, whatever happens to the Bill. And the reliefs that can shelter a restructure are settled law today. Waiting is a decision to act later, under rules nobody has read yet.
Primary production income is excluded from the measure as introduced, so the main pressure point may not apply to you. The diagnostic has a farming option and adjusts the answer for it.
It depends on your state. Business assets other than land transfer duty free in SA, NSW, VIC, ACT and NT. Queensland and WA still charge duty on them, and in Tasmania it depends on whether land or a lease moves. Land is a separate question everywhere. The diagnostic checks your state.
No. Every question is multiple choice, in ranges. It takes about four minutes.
Yes. No obligation, and if the answer is that you need nothing, we say so.
We use them to send your report. You will also hear from Your Success Lab with practical advice for business owners, and you can unsubscribe in one click. We never sell your data.
No. It is general information that points you in a direction, not a calculation of your tax. Your trust deed, prior use of concessions, family arrangements and the final form of the law can all change the answer. Get advice specific to your circumstances before acting.
You don't have to change anything. You just have to know what you're choosing.
Something is coming, and the direction is clear. Make this decision while you can still see the rules, not after they have been made for you. Take the diagnostic to see where you stand, or book a free clarity call to talk it through.
Free. No obligation. We will tell you if the answer is that you need nothing.