No purging** Non-lapsing interposed entity elections

Last week's post highlighted the fact that in a practical sense, interposed entity elections (IEEs) are very difficult to revoke.

For example, the Tax Office has confirmed in an Interpretive Decision (ID2013/21 – as usual, let me know if you would like a copy of this decision) that IEEs remain in force even if the trust that is a subject of the related family trust election (FTE) ceases to exist.

In particular, where an entity makes an IEE in relation to a family trust to be within the family group of that family trust, it will be taken to be revoked where the FTE for that trust is revoked.

According to the Tax Office, where a family trust is simply wound up and no steps are taken before the wind up to revoke any FTE, then both the FTE and IEE continue to remain in force indefinitely.

This means that the penal rate of tax will continue to apply to the entity that has made the IEE for any distributions it makes outside the family group of the family trust that has been wound up.

While the ability to revoke an FTE is also relatively narrow, whenever considering the windup of a trust that has made an FTE, specific thought should be given to whether the FTE should be revoked before finalising the wind up.

** for the trainspotters, the title here is riffed from the Midnight Oil song that has a line mentioning elections, namely ‘When the generals talk’.

Revoking an interposed entity (in the year of) election**

Arguably one of the more complex areas in relation to family trusts relates to interposed entity elections (IEE).

We have had a number of advisers contact us recently in relation to the exact way in which IEEs operate, and unfortunately, preferred distribution arrangements are often effectively prevented due to historical elections that, with the aid of hindsight, were arguably were unnecessary.

While there are some circumstances where an IEE can be revoked, at least in the situations we have looked at recently, the ability to access the revocation provisions is limited.

This is because, among other requirements, a revocation is only available where:

1. It is done within 4 years of the original IEE being made.
2. The IEE must not have been relied on at any time.

Next week's post will look at an Interpretive Decision from the Tax Office, which further highlights the restrictive nature of IEEs.

** for the trainspotters, the title here is riffed from the U2 song ‘Desire.