Recorded Webinar: All Things Being Equal in the Estate Plan – Then There’s the Tax

With the best of intentions an estate plan often sets out to treat the beneficiaries on equal terms. However, it may not be until the estate is being administered that tax rears its head in some form so that one beneficiary’s share is diminished by the potential tax consequences attached to a certain asset including superannuation. This session looks into these situations, including:

• How is tax equalisation between beneficiaries factored into the estate plan in practice?
• Dealing with the tax consequences of a non-resident receiving shares from an estate that triggers CGT event K3
• Case study - Addressing the tax discrepancy for an estate left to 3 adult children on same income levels in the following circumstances:
  • family home (value $1 million) to child 1
  • superannuation death benefit (value $1 million 100% taxed element) to child 2
  • CBA shares acquired when CBA first listed (value $1 million) to child 3
• What is the super ‘death tax’ and who pays it?
  • Tax where super death benefits paid to an individual directly vs paid to the estate
  • Impact of pre-death super withdrawals on broader estate plan
  • Equalisation between tax dependants and non-tax dependants
  • Accounting for CGT and PAYG withholding liabilities, including where SMSF holds ‘lumpy’ assets
• Case study 1 - possible solutions where four beneficiaries are to receive equal shares of SMSF death benefits where:
  • three beneficiaries are non-tax dependants​​​​​​​
  • one beneficiary asserts that they are a tax dependant
• Case study 2 - tax issues where BDBN directs SMSF death benefit payment of large commercial property in-specie
• Summary tax consequences if executor doesn’t follow the will and all beneficiaries agree to compensatory asset apportionments due to tax discrepancies and strategies for incorporating better tax outcomes in the estate plan