In what is only a slight variation of the Division 7A planning approach of trusts distributing income to a limited partnership, in order to attain a capped rate of tax of 30% and avoid any application of Division 7A on loans made by the limited partnership, the ATO has released a further taxpayer alert last week.
The use of limited partnerships to avoid Division 7A was an approach that the ATO was on record as having concerns about long before the legislation in this area was changed a couple of years ago.
Following the change, a number of advisers were quick to realise that companies limited by guarantee could offer a similar pathway to the limited partnership approach – in other words:
1. Potentially receive trust distributions, with the tax payable on those distributions capped at the corporate rate of 30%.
2. The company limited by guarantee could then subsequently make loans that would not, on the face of the legislation, be caught by Division 7A.
In their first taxpayer alert for the year (taxpayer alert TA2011/1), the ATO lists its concerns with the above strategy.
The full alert is set out at the following link - http://law.ato.gov.au/atolaw/view.htm?docid=%22TPA/TA20111/NAT/ATO/00001%22.
Until next week.
