Tax Planning.

Dividing assets following a marriage or a de facto relationship breakdown (particularly in circumstances where complex family finance structures are in place) requires careful application to avoid potentially significant taxation consequences. 

Considerations include:

• In many cases, taxes that arise from relationship business activities may need to be included as a liability to be accounted for in the division of the other net assets.

• Only some anticipated taxes are taken into account in Financial Settlements. To assess whether they can be, consideration must be given to their timing and their nexus to the relationship or marriage. For example, CGT may need to be accounted for if a sale of an asset is required pursuant to the terms of a Financial Settlement.

Proper analysis of parties’ financial circumstances and asset structures is essential to ensuring the net financial outcome is as intended, without unwanted tax consequences arising following settlement.

Sayer Jones regularly acts for clients to untangle complex structures as part of their Financial Settlement and to plan how resulting taxes are to be met. We have a strong network of tax professionals with whom we work closely to achieve this.