Hi
Naturally, I have given the issue of HDT’s a lot of thought of late and especially in light of some of the recent private rulings and discussions on this forum.
Before, I comment too far, please understand that:
1. I personally use HDT’s to own some of my IP’s and in doing so; I too have issued Special Income Units to take advantage of the negative gearing aspects of the trust. Therefore, I personally have a problem if this turns as sour as some would have us believe.
2. Secondly, I have publicly supported the HDT concept for a number of years now and so I am obviously biased in my thoughts and this bias needs to be taken into consideration with anything else that I say on the topic…..as I am sure that it is already.
Now, having said that, my thoughts are:
As a generalisation, we seem to be approaching this issue on a “one size fits all” basis. That is, either all HDT’s will fail the Tax Office scrutiny; or, all HDT’s will pass the Tax Office scrutiny.
As a forum we seem to do this regardless of the actual wording of the trust deed involved; how the individual accountants understand the tax law and/or the trust law and of the trust deed involved.
Clearly, that is a crucial mistake in tax law as a simple basis for all tax issues is to look first at the individual facts and circumstances in hand.
Obviously, we are all waiting to see what the Tax Office do when they finalise their discussions with Chris Batten and Chris Balalovski and any comments I make now need to be read with this in mind.
I have no doubt that as soon as Chris Batten knows something more certain and worth sharing, that he will indeed share it. In the meantime, suggesting that he is being unfair or withholding information is close to libel and quite unhelpful to an intelligent debate on the matter. Moreover, we are wasting time, energy and emotions unnecessarily whereas Chris is just waiting and working quietly in the background towards a resolution of this issue with the Tax Office.
So, for what it is worth and with all the preceding comments in mind, what I personally believe that we will see is that:
• Those of us who believe that the HDT concept will fail will be proven right; and
• Those of us who believe that the HDT concept will work will be proven right.
How?
Simply, because of the way that the individual trust deeds are written and used.
So, whilst I know it is frustrating to do so, we are all best to wait and see what comes out of the discussions between Chris and the Tax Office.
I hope that this helps some
Dale
Naturally, I have given the issue of HDT’s a lot of thought of late and especially in light of some of the recent private rulings and discussions on this forum.
Before, I comment too far, please understand that:
1. I personally use HDT’s to own some of my IP’s and in doing so; I too have issued Special Income Units to take advantage of the negative gearing aspects of the trust. Therefore, I personally have a problem if this turns as sour as some would have us believe.
2. Secondly, I have publicly supported the HDT concept for a number of years now and so I am obviously biased in my thoughts and this bias needs to be taken into consideration with anything else that I say on the topic…..as I am sure that it is already.
Now, having said that, my thoughts are:
As a generalisation, we seem to be approaching this issue on a “one size fits all” basis. That is, either all HDT’s will fail the Tax Office scrutiny; or, all HDT’s will pass the Tax Office scrutiny.
As a forum we seem to do this regardless of the actual wording of the trust deed involved; how the individual accountants understand the tax law and/or the trust law and of the trust deed involved.
Clearly, that is a crucial mistake in tax law as a simple basis for all tax issues is to look first at the individual facts and circumstances in hand.
Obviously, we are all waiting to see what the Tax Office do when they finalise their discussions with Chris Batten and Chris Balalovski and any comments I make now need to be read with this in mind.
I have no doubt that as soon as Chris Batten knows something more certain and worth sharing, that he will indeed share it. In the meantime, suggesting that he is being unfair or withholding information is close to libel and quite unhelpful to an intelligent debate on the matter. Moreover, we are wasting time, energy and emotions unnecessarily whereas Chris is just waiting and working quietly in the background towards a resolution of this issue with the Tax Office.
So, for what it is worth and with all the preceding comments in mind, what I personally believe that we will see is that:
• Those of us who believe that the HDT concept will fail will be proven right; and
• Those of us who believe that the HDT concept will work will be proven right.
How?
Simply, because of the way that the individual trust deeds are written and used.
So, whilst I know it is frustrating to do so, we are all best to wait and see what comes out of the discussions between Chris and the Tax Office.
I hope that this helps some
Dale
