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If we metaphorize a business to a building, structure to the business will be as important as foundation to the building. A suitable structure can provide tax effectiveness and assets protection to a business. Contemporarily, sole trade, company and trust are common structures used in business. Next, we will use a table to illustrate the difference between these structures. 

  Sole Trader Company Trust
Cost Cheap Expensive Expensive
Tax Individual rate with 8% discount and will be 16% (capped $1000) 27.5% and will be reduced to 25% Beneficiary tax rate
Assets protection None Limited liability Strong
Superannuation contribution Not compulsory Compulsory Compulsory
Income streaming No No Yes

As you can see, cost wise, sole trader is cheaper than company and trust to be set up and managed. As a sole trader, you can either use your own name or register a business name. Like other business entity, a sole trader can register ABN, GST, PAYG Withholding, etc. Because of the complexity of company and trust, in addition with government and document platform charges, the cost of company and trust’s setting up and management are comparatively higher.

In terms of the tax rate, sole trader used to be the same to individual tax rate. There is an 8% discount capped with $1000 however for the sole trader with less than $5 million business turnover from 1 July 2016 due to the government new legislation announcement. The discount rate will be gradually increased to 16% in about a decade time and the capped amount is so far is still the same. Company tax rate has been dropped from 30% to 27.5% since 1 July 2016 for business turnover under $10 million and the turnover threshold will be increased to $25 million from 1 July 2017. The company tax rate will be finally reduced to 25% for all business with less than $50 million turnover in about a decade time. Trust net income is usually taxed in the hands of beneficiary. Therefore, if beneficiary is an individual, individual tax rate will be applied; likewise, company tax rate will be applied to corporate beneficiary.

Sole trader business runs under the personal capacity; therefore, the business owner’s personal assets will be exposed to all creditors. Assets protection is vastly low in the sole trader business structure. Proprietary limited gives company comparatively higher assets protection to both shareholders and directors. However, director may be forced to be personal liable to company debt under the Corporate Act 2001. Since trust structure separate the legal ownership and beneficiary of trust assets, trust assets generally protected well from beneficiary’s personal bankruptcy. Nevertheless, care needs to be taken of when trust structure is set up and trust income is distributed.

Employer superannuation guarantee is not compulsory to sole trader him or herself but they are still liable for employee’s superannuation guarantee payment. Company and trust need to pay superannuation guarantee if they hire  employee and pay them over $450 a month. This includes director himself.

Compared to sole trader and company structure, one of trust structure’s advantage is that it can stream the prior-taxed income to beneficiaries at different proportion each year. Therefore, it can fully use the tax free threshold of each beneficiaries and their tax loss if any. This strategy is often used by a family trust and hence the family members can overall pay less tax.

Need Help?

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Pitt Martin Group is a firm of Chartered Accountants, providing services including taxation, accounting, business consulting, self-managed superannuation funds, auditing and mortgage & finance. We spend hundreds of hours each year on training and researching new tax laws to ensure our clients can maximize legitimate tax benefit. Our contact information are phone +61292213345 or email info@pittmartingroup.com.au. Pitt Martin Group, Sydney tax accountants, is located in the convenient transportation hub of Sydney’s central business district. Our honours include the 2018 CPA NSW President’s Award for Excellence, the 2020 Australian Small Business Champion Award Finalist, the 2021 Australia’s well-known media ‘Accountants Daily’ the Accounting Firm of the Year Award Finalist and the 2022 Start-up Firm of the Year Award Finalist, and the 2023 Hong Kong-Australia Business Association Business Award Finalist.

Pitt Martin Group qualifications include over fifteen years of professional experience in accounting industry, Registered Australia Tax Agents, membership certification of the Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CA ANZ), certified External Examiner of the Law Societies of New South Wales, Victoria, and Western Australia Law Trust Accounts, membership certification of the Finance Brokers Association of Australia Limited (FBAA), Registered Agents of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), certified Advisor of accounting software such as XERO, QUICKBOOKS, MYOB, etc.

This content is for reference only and does not constitute advice on any individual or group’s specific situation. Any individual or group should take action only after consulting with professionals. Due to the timeliness of tax laws, we have endeavoured to provide timely and accurate information at the time of publication, but cannot guarantee that the content stated will remain applicable in the future. Please indicate the source when forwarding this content.