Health & Professional · Brisbane
Accountants for Family Businesses
Two generations, three entities and a family trust — family businesses need the whole group looked at together, not one return at a time.
What do family businesses need from their accountant?
A whole-of-group view. That means trust distribution resolutions before 30 June (and awareness of the ATO's position on arrangements benefiting parents from adult children's entitlements), Division 7A discipline on loans between the company and family, defensible wages to family members, consolidated reporting across entities, and a succession plan that deals with tax, control and fairness between children who work in the business and those who don't.
- Specialist support for family-owned businesses
- Fixed monthly packages from $220
- BAS, payroll and year-end handled together
- Benchmarked against ATO industry figures
What we watch
What matters most for family-owned businesses.
Resolutions on time
Trust distributions must be resolved before 30 June or the trustee risks assessment at the top rate. Diarised annually for every trust client.
Division 7A on family loans
Money moving between the company and family members needs complying agreements and minimum repayments, or it becomes a deemed dividend.
Family wages that hold up
Payments to spouses and children must reflect real work at commercial rates, with payroll records to match.
Succession before it's urgent
Control, ownership and CGT concessions planned years ahead — ideally before health or relationship events force decisions.
Deductions
Family Businesses — what you can claim.
A working checklist we go through with every client in this sector. Substantiation requirements differ by item — we'll tell you which need records and which don't.
- Wages and super for genuinely working family members
- Premises costs, whether owned or leased
- Motor vehicles with substantiated business use
- Interest on business borrowings
- Professional and advisory fees across the group
- Insurance including key person cover (treatment varies)
- Staff training and development
- Equipment and asset purchases
- Bad debts written off before year end
How we help
Services family-owned businesses use most.
Tax Returns
Individual and business returns prepared accurately, lodged fast, with every deduction claimed.
Learn more →Tax Planning
Year-round planning that lowers your tax bill before 30 June — not after it.
Learn more →Business Accounting
Bookkeeping, BAS, payroll and management reporting handled end to end.
Learn more →Self-Managed Super (SMSF)
SMSF setup, administration, compliance and audit coordination in one place.
Learn more →Business Advisory
Structuring, cash-flow forecasting, growth strategy and succession planning.
Learn more →Financial Reporting
Clear statutory and management accounts you can actually make decisions from.
Learn more →FAQ
Family Businesses — questions we're asked most.
Can I pay my children from the business?
Yes, for work genuinely performed at a commercially reasonable rate, with proper payroll records, payslips and super. Paying a child $30,000 for weekend filing won't survive review. Distributions from a trust to adult children are a different mechanism again — and the ATO scrutinises arrangements where the child never actually receives the benefit.
What happens if we miss a trust distribution resolution?
The trustee may be assessed at the top marginal rate, or the deed's default beneficiaries take the income — potentially someone you didn't intend, with the tax bill following. It's avoidable with a diarised process, and it's one of the most expensive administrative mistakes in family group compliance.
How do we plan succession fairly?
Separate three questions: who controls the business, who owns the value, and who gets what from the estate. Tools include restructures, buy-sell agreements, insurance funding, testamentary trusts and the small business CGT concessions. Start two to three years out — options narrow sharply under time pressure.
Should the family home be in the business structure?
Almost never. Mixing the family home into a trading entity risks it in litigation and can cost the main residence CGT exemption. Separation of operating risk from personal assets is one of the main reasons to have a considered structure at all.
Related
Related pages.
Business Advisory
Structuring, cash-flow forecasting, growth strategy and succession planning.
Learn more →Business Tax Return Accountant Brisbane
Company, trust, partnership
Learn more →Tax Planning
Year-round planning that lowers your tax bill before 30 June — not after it.
Learn more →Forensic Accountant Brisbane
Disputes, valuations, tracing
Learn more →Local coverage across Brisbane
We work in person from our Wakerley office and by secure video across 200 suburbs. Start with your region:
- Accountants Brisbane CPA accountants for the wider Brisbane metro area.
- Accountants South Brisbane South Brisbane, West End, Annerley and Sunnybank.
- Accountants Brisbane Northside Chermside, Stafford, Aspley and the northern corridor.
- Accountants Brisbane Bayside Wynnum, Manly, Wakerley and Tingalpa.
- Accountants Redland City Cleveland, Capalaba, Victoria Point and the bay islands.
- Accountants Logan City Springwood, Beenleigh, Browns Plains and 50 Logan suburbs.
- Accountants Ipswich Ipswich CBD and the western Brisbane corridor.
Ready when you are
Accountants for family businesses — let's talk.
Free 15-minute consultation, fixed monthly fee, and an accountant who already knows your sector.