The Federal Government announced the establishment of the Entrepreneurs’ Infrastructure Programme (EIP), with funding of $484.2 million over 5 years. The objective of the EIP is to improve the business capabilities of Australian small to medium enterprises to make them more competitive on the world stage. 

When recommending a structure to conduct a business or hold an investment, advisors should consider a number of issues, primarily the income taxation consequences of the structure, the ability to access applicable capital gains tax reliefs upon a sale of a capital appreciating asset, the asset protection benefits of the recommended structure and how the structure works to ensure that control of the asset passes to the next generation upon death in a succession plan.  Legal and accounting advisors routinely recommend a discretionary trust structure for these purposes. However, it is important to highlight the difficulties that a discretionary trust structure poses in planning for succession and how those difficulties are best addressed.