Recent content by Chris Batten

Mr Broke Fortunately the Institute of Chartered Accountants, Taxation Institute of Australia, CCH Australia Limited and many other bodies think I am good at my job which is why I provide a tax/super training service for their members. Don't be cranky and aggressive if the decisions you...

Jo A little confused. Posted on this thread is a private ruling whereby the ATO accepts that a full deduction for interest is available for a special unitholder in a hybrid trust received on 11 April 2011. Is it possibly a little late for a newsflash? Chris

Ms Jade A trust is created when a settlor pays an amount to the trustee to be held for the benefit of beneficiaries. It is not necessary to be a defined term but normally is a defined term. The initial settlor is only prohibited from recieving a benefit because that is what is drafted into...

JIT Many people lend money to a discretionary trust. I don't understand this or the reasons behind it. If you gift money or settle money on a trust it forms part of the capital (corpus of the trust). Distributions of corpus are tax free under section 99 (B) (2) of the ITAA36. Why lend...

Aaron Many other areas of the law are very nebulous and lawyers make significant money from those areas. I should disclose one of my collegues is a finance broker who lives in Point Piper and has a holiday house on an island off Queensland. Are you saying it is a bad thing if someone is...

Emptyvessel What you say about finding the best advisor that matches your style and strategy is spot on. You need to find an advisor that has an open mind and can advise you on structures and the advantages and disadvantages as well as the risks. Many of you should also use the private...

Emptyvessel Using unit trusts has been addressed in this thread. If you want to give me a scenario I will address it. I assume most of you are medical practitioners or some kind of professionals as you appear to have a high concern for asset protection. For those that aren't professionals...

Emptyvessel I thought I had covered a lot of material on this in this thread. I am happy to answer your questions if you want to ask them. Banks stopped lending where a HDT was involved due to the ATO crackdown. Now that an accepted position has been arrived at I think you will find...

JIT A discretionary trust is created when a settlor (fancy word for the person who contributes the first amount of money) pays an amount, usually $10 to the trustee to start the trust. Section 102 of the ITAA36 provides the Commissioner with the power to assess the trustee where the...

Sorry for the absence My appologies for not posting for some time as the month of June is very busy for me and this has spilled over into July. I am back and happy to help where I can on the topics of trusts, hybrid trusts and the taxation of trusts. For those of you questioning the use of...

Redwing A revolving resolution is one piece of paper whereby the trustee resolves to do something and the all directors sign the one piece of paper. The resolution takes effect when the last director signs. A floating resolution is where you have two pieces of paper with the identical...

JIT I think that might have saved him. The Commissioner announced on 29/30 June 2011 that trustees have until 31 August 2011 to record an appointment of franked distributions. The Bill and resulting legislation gave trustees until 31 August to appoint capital gains, however now they have...

Terryw I think you forgot the 'Serious Idiots Offenders Act (As Amended) 1954 (Cth)'. I think the civil and criminal penalty regime should be amended to give judges a discretion to impose additional penalties to offenders who are just stupid. On another note those that haven't prepared...

Coastymike You of all people should know what sort of a fool lodges a document with the ATO pretending to be Chris Batten. For years I was a part of RATS and I think once you go on RATS you never leave it. Chris

woohoo I don't know. It was a very big risk asking the ATO to issue the document to an address not on file. That's why they rang me. You will eventually find out what it is all about. I know who owns the PO Box and what firm they work for. Chris