Originally posted by bluemackart:
Does anyone know of some good accountants who specialise in property investing residing in Melbourne??!
Dale Gatherum-Goss is used by a number of regulars on these property forums, with no complaints that I’ve seen. He also posts on the Somersoft forums:

http://www.somersoft.com/forums/index.php.

GP

Cameron,

As Rob said, talk to your accountant (or one who’s knowledgeable about trusts and property investing if yours is not). What’s best for you will depend somewhat on your circumstances. Note though that I’ve seen a number of comments on these forums, and have experienced myself, that some accountants who are not particularly savvy about…[Read more]

Luke,

It recently cost me about $2600 to have a good accountant set up a hybrid discretionary trust with corporate trustee. You could find cheaper, but given the importance of having your structure right, I don’t think it pays to skimp. In the event of a law suit, the devil could be in the detail, so you want to have it right before you start.

A…[Read more]

Hi,

I’d suggest you look in much more detail at the figures to see exactly what it’s going to cost you (post them here if you like).

What you need to look at are specifics like:

– The cost of your new Port Lincoln house.
– Whether you’d buy that outright or borrow (remember, no tax deduction for PPOR loans).
– The actual amount you’d end up…[Read more]

I have no idea about the place but it’s been discussed a few times on the Somersoft forums:

http://www.somersoft.com/forums/search.php?searchid=184758

GP

I would agree with those who say stuff it in the bank and educate yourself. Read books, magazines, newspapers, Websites, investment forums (property & shares), and so on. Go to some of the investors’ groups meetings (I don’t know if this forum has any, but they have regular ones over on Somersoft). Find out who the respected experts are, read…[Read more]

Originally posted by myoung:
a normal company can retain profits over financial years, whereas a trust MUST pay all profits to the unit holders of the trust for the FY
My understanding is that if a hybrid trust has unit holders then profits have to be distributed to them, otherwise the profits can be retained in the trust but are taxed at the top…[Read more]

A couple of other things to consider:

If you’re running a business in your company, then buying passive investments in the same company is putting them at risk if your business goes broke owing money.

If the trust is a hybrid trust, or you create a new one, then you can buy the properties in the trust funded by the company by having it buy…[Read more]

Ozi,

My parents have flown with Freedom Air a few times, although to and from Hamilton not Dunedin. They seemed to think they were okay, although the flights they always got arrived back in Hamilton at nearly midnight. No food except for a few snacks that you can buy I believe.

I’ve only stayed in Dunedin on holiday and was then on the Otago…[Read more]

I recently read “More Wealth From Residential Property” which was pretty good.

GP

Originally posted by georgisj:
I have just had the cost of $2700 for a Hybrid Discretionary Trust with corporate trustee by Gatherum-Goss
That’s similar to what I paid for the same thing, although not from G-G.

GP

Originally posted by gramyre:
Am I right in saying that the asset protection comes not from the Discretionary trust but from having a corporate trusee for that trust?
Further to Lucifer_au’s response, a corporate trustee is more to protect the trust managers than the trust assets. As it’s the trustee who’s most at risk of being sued, it’s better…[Read more]

Perhaps the best information about Australian trusts for property investors is in Dale Gatherum-Goss’s book “Trust Magic”. You can order it via his Website:

http://www.gatherumgoss.com/shopping.htm

Nick Renton’s book on Family Trusts is good too, but rather dry reading.

There is a little basic info I’ve seen on the Net, but the books are more…[Read more]

Originally posted by recoveryman:
I am so confused
I think that is the primary aim of tax legislation [].

GP

Hi Chris,

Originally posted by masteraccountants:
The de minimis exemption will be satisfied if the total of the attributable incomes of all the trust estates is equal to or less than the lesser of:

$20 000 or

10 per cent of the total of the net incomes of those trust estates.
I can see there still being a problem if there are no NZ…[Read more]

Hi Chris,

Originally posted by masteraccountants:
You have still not picked up on the operative words of “for inadequate consideration”.
Well as I mentioned, from what I’ve read this term doesn’t apply to discretionary trusts, which I gather is what we’re talking about for NZ. For discretionary trusts there is no mention of the amount of…[Read more]

Hi Chris,

Originally posted by masteraccountants:
It looks like we have some budding legal eagles out there!
Well in this case it’s more that I was talking to an accountant here about transferring funds to a NZ trust and he said I might be subject to these provisions. So I thought I’d read up on them myself first before letting him charge me…[Read more]

Hi Chris,

Originally posted by masteraccountants:
The NZ Trust structure also allows you to not pay CGT in Australia – as long as no capital gains sourced distributions are made
I’ve just been reading up some stuff on Australia’s Transferor Trust provisions and am wondering how this would affect most Australian-resident investors using NZ…[Read more]

Originally posted by Derek:
I’ll email you a copy of the index so you can see what the book covers
Dale’s Website also has a basic outline of what’s in the book.

GP

Originally posted by murph38:
but was warned about selling it before the two year mark due to CGT
The only thing I can think of is that if you bought it and sold it again soon after, even if you did live in it during that time, the ATO may try to say you were doing it as a business (ie. buying and selling property for profit).

I don’t know much…[Read more]