‘Alarm bells ringing’ on trusts tax crackdown

The Tax Office’s latest crackdown on payments from family trusts will limit “washing machine” cash distributions and tax-saving arrangements completed under the guise of ordinary family business.

A long-awaited draft ruling and practical compliance guidelines were released by the Australian Taxation Office on Wednesday, flagging permanent changes that accounting experts said would ring alarm bells for beneficiaries of thousands of trusts around the country.