TaxBanter December 2026 Special Topic: Trust or Company? – Making an informed choice

Whether a trust is more appropriate than a company, or vice versa, for a client wishing to conduct a business or simply hold investments will depend on the client’s particular situation and needs. 

The decision should consider not only the current situation but also the future when the activity grows and needs change.  

Also relevant will be the client’s capacity to operate the structure, willingness to either learn about the legal obligations of, and technical compliance obligations associated with, using the entity or else pay for professional assistance in its operation. 

To this end, we consider: 

• the main differences between a company and a trust regarding the taxation of its income and capital gains 
• the differences in the tax rules that apply to each for the purposes of recouping losses of prior years  
• the advantages of using a company as a beneficiary of a trust – this means that both a company and trust would be appropriate 
• the advantage of a discretionary trust holding the shares in a company that carries on a business 
• the differences in the rules applying to accessing profit or income of the entity 
• whether new business ‘partners’ can be easily admitted to the structure 

Investment

Individual - $195 ex GST incl
Team - $585 ex GST (up to 6 team members)

If you do not already have an account, please create one here to:

• Register a team
• Access the 25% discount for the full year series!
   

Date & Details

Wednesday, 2 December 2026

11:00am - 12:30pm AEDT (NSW, VIC, TAS, ACT)
10:30am SA
10:00am QLD
9:30am NT
8:00am WA

What we cover

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