need advice on how to buy 1st IP

My husband and I are in our early 30s. We currently own our ppor worth approx $600k with about $300k mortgage. the ppor is in my name only. We also bought a medical practice last year which we now own with no debt. Our accountant recommended us to set up a discretionary trust with a corporate trustee when we bought the practice. It is a solo practice. My hubby works as a solo GP while I work part time as a dispensary technician at our local pharmacy

Being a solo practice, according to our accountant, the income from the trust cannot be distributed at our discretion. our trust can pay me an income for admin work but the bulk of income will have to distributed to my husband.

We are now looking into buying our first investment property. We asked the accountant whose name we should put our ip in - either in the trust, my husband's name or my name.

We were given the following scenarios.
if in the trust, the negative gearing can be offset by the income generated by the practice, but we were told the trust will have to pay higher land tax and if my hubby gets sued, the ip in the trust will be at risk.
if in my hubby's name, same problem, if he gets sued, the ip will also be at risk although he will benefit more from negative gearing as he will receive most of the income distribution from the trust.
if in my name, i suspect bcos i am on a lower income, the bank will lend us limited funds for the purchase of ip.

Our accountant does not seem to be able to come up with a good answer. He thinks it's best to put the ip in my name for asset protection purposes.
Is anybody out there in a similar situation?? Please give us some advice.
thank you
 
You pay your accountant for advice, surely the best option is to follow what he says. If not happy, then maybe another accountant.
Marg
 
Hi apple,

Yours is a fairly common problem, with professionals buying investments.

IPs should not be in your husband's name or the trust used to run the practice - at risk as you say.
In your name, or 1% husband's name / 99% your name, or a separate trust altogether for asset protection. But these options offer little tax advantage.

Get a more property savvy accountant to advise on structure/s. The whole trust thing is getting more attention from the ATO so you need good professional advice.
 
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