Trust Deeds
Do you have your business held in Family Trust or Discretionary Trust? The ATO and most trust deeds, require a resolution distributing the income from the trust to its various beneficiaries to be made. If the resolutions are not passed, they cannot be made and back-dated. That amounts to fraud. Some deed have a default […]
Restructuring Ownership of Businesses
I had a query from an accountant seeking assurance that the transfer of a business from an individual to a company, the shares which were owned by a trust, of which the individual was the only beneficiary, on the basis that there was no change in beneficial ownership. Unfortunately, the rule is not as cut […]
Business Ventures
An old client of mine has an idea for a boutique bar with an interesting twist. He has been discussing the with the owners of a building and they now wish to join together to create the bar in the premises. My client will be the managing director, in charge of business development and will […]
Termination of Employment Contracts
I provided some advice to a client who had been made redundant and wanted to know if he could take action against his employer. His contract provided that a 4 week notice period could be given by either party to terminate his $200k+ position, well over the high income threshold of $158,500, which takes an […]
Share and Unit Sale Agreements
We are in the middle of negotiating one unit sale agreement, one unit and share sale agreement, two other share sale agreements, and there is another in the offing. It seems a lot of people are buying into and exiting businesses at the moment. They are popular ways to take over a business without incurring exorbitant […]
Speedy Settlement
An old client came to us last week seeking independent advice on loan contract, guarantees and mortgages being given as security for a loan. The deal involved borrowing just over $175k for 6 months, but only receiving $150k after application fees, interest paid in advance and legal fees, on top of our fees for the […]
IP Issues for IT Client
We received an e-mail from an old IT client who had a trade mark issue. A cruise company wanted to register a trade mark in relation to some Apps it had developed. IP Australia said they were too similar to our client’s trade marks, which were in the same class.They asked our client to sign […]
$1.15 Million Business Sale
I had a lengthy discussion with a client who is selling his interest in 5 businesses to his business associates for $1.15 million, on 90% vendor finance, with payments of at least $48,000 per month for 2 years. We sorted out the basic terms on Monday and finished version X of the draft agreement yesterday […]
$11 Million Deal
We have been working on a new $11m deal for a new client – a contract to buy a piece of land and another contract for the construction of a hotel. We are setting up 2 new unit trusts – one to buy the land, the other to lease the land and obtain the hotel […]
Corporate Compliance
Do you use a company to trade? Do you have the Australian Company Number for that company on your business card? What about your website? Did you know that it is a requirement under the Corporations Act that most documents issued by a company need to have its ACN published. If you, or anyone you […]