Does Your Business Structure Still Fit?

Here is a Straightforward Check for Regional Business Owners

Most business structures in Australia are chosen once, usually at start-up, often under time pressure, and rarely revisited unless something forces the question. That’s understandable. But a structure that was right on day one doesn’t automatically stay right as the business changes shape.

This isn’t an article about restructuring for its own sake. For most businesses we work with, the existing structure is still the right one. The point of this piece is to give you a plain way to check for yourself, before it becomes an urgent problem.

Why structure matters more than it looks like it does Your business structure, sole trader, partnership, company, trust, or some combination, determines three things that quietly compound over time: how much personal liability you’re carrying, how tax is calculated on what the business earns, and how flexible you are when it comes to bringing in a partner, selling, or passing the business on.

None of that matters much when a business is small and simple. It starts to matter a great deal once there’s staff, equipment, property, or real revenue involved.

Signs it’s worth a proper look:

• You started as a sole trader and the business now employs people or holds significant assets
• Revenue or risk has grown materially in the last two to three years
• You set up a trust or company structure for a reason that no longer applies
• You’re running more than one entity and aren’t sure why one of them still exists
• A major life event is on the horizon: retirement, a new business partner, succession,
or sale.

What this is not:

This isn’t a suggestion that everyone needs to restructure. Restructuring has real costs, CGT implications, stamp duty in some cases, and the time and complexity of unwinding what’s there. The right outcome, most of the time, is confirming the current structure still works and moving on.

Why this year’s check matters more than most:

Structure reviews are worth doing every year regardless. But this year there’s a specific reason to bring trusts into the conversation: the May 2026 Federal Budget proposed a 30% minimum tax on discretionary trusts, due to start from 1 July 2028.

The draft legislation has now been released for consultation (see the update above), but the shape of it is worth knowing while you’re thinking about structure, because it directly affects a strategy a lot of family businesses rely on:

• Unchanged: a 30% minimum tax would apply at trustee level on a discretionary trust’s income, from 1 July 2028.
• Unchanged: beneficiaries who aren’t companies would get a non-refundable offset for tax the trustee has paid, but bucket companies still would not, meaning bucket companies would effectively be taxed twice.
• New: existing discretionary trusts could elect to opt out by nominating fixed beneficiaries, each taking the same share of income and capital. If the election is later revoked, the trust falls back into the minimum tax.
• Confirmed: rollover relief would apply to restructures out of a discretionary trust into a company or fixed trust between 1 July 2027 and 30 June 2030, without triggering CGT.

A better time to ask than tax time

The worst time to think properly about structure is during a compressed EOFY conversation with a deadline attached. A short, unhurried check earlier in the year – like now – gives you room to actually think, rather than defaulting to (leave it as is), because there’s no time to consider the alternative.

If you want that ten-minute conversation, get in touch with us here at ASA. There’s no obligation attached – it’s
exactly the kind of check that should happen before it’s urgent, not after.

“General information only. This article does not take into account your personal circumstances and is not advice. The Budget measures referred to are proposals and are not yet law. Please speak with us before acting.”