PrimeAdvisory

Two of the most common questions we get from families with adult children:

Should we help them onto the property ladder now?

Or hold the property until inheritance?

Both can be the right answer. The right one depends on the specific property and on the rest of your structure.

Most families we work with end up with a hybrid plan that uses different mechanisms for different assets.

We walk through the trade-offs in our latest guide.

primeadvisory.com.au/transferring-property-to-a-family-member

PropertyInvesting

There’s a common belief that gifting property between family members avoids tax.

It doesn’t.

When you gift property, the ATO treats it as a deemed sale at market value on the day of transfer. CGT applies to the giver, even though no money changed hands.

Stamp duty is still assessed on market value, regardless of what the family agreed to pay.

For a holiday house bought twenty years ago and now worth $1.5M, with a $1M gain, the bill on a “gift” can run well into six figures.

The full picture, plus the strategic alternative, is on our blog.

primeadvisory.com.au/transferring-property-to-a-family-member

Accounting

In early 2026, the ATO released Draft Taxation Determination TD 2026/D1.

Most readers won’t notice the update. The price tag for the families it does affect is real.

It narrows one of the conditions Australian families have relied on for decades to keep the main residence exemption flowing through to their kids.

A $2 million home with a $1.5 million unrealised gain could expose the beneficiaries to $300,000 to $600,000 in CGT under the new view, where the same family would have walked away exempt last year.

If your will was drafted more than a few years ago, this is worth a look.

primeadvisory.com.au/transferring-property-to-a-family-member

EstatePlanning

Most families we work with eventually ask the same question.

How do I move this property to my kids (or my spouse) without a tax shock?

It’s a fair question, and the answer depends on which of three legal mechanisms you use. The tax bill on each is very different.

Sale. Gift. Inheritance.

Most families assume one of them is “tax free.” Most families are wrong.

The right path depends on more than just the property. It depends on the rest of your structure too.

primeadvisory.com.au/transferring-property-to-a-family-member

WealthPlanning

We’re moving to the heart of Sydney.

After almost 20 years in Chatswood, PrimeAdvisory is setting up a new home in the Sydney C*D, at 68 Pitt Street, from 1 September.

This is an exciting new chapter for us, and a simple promise to our clients: the firm stays exactly what you know. Same team, same approach.

So why the city? A stronger team, drawing talent from across Sydney. Closer ties to the specialists we work with. And our accounting and wealth teams together under one roof.

Built on 20 years. Positioned for the next 20.

Read the full story: primeadvisory.com.au/moving-to-the-heart-of-sydney

From 1 July 2028, trustees of discretionary trusts will pay a 30% minimum tax on the trust’s taxable income.

Non-corporate beneficiaries receive a credit for the trustee’s tax. Corporate beneficiaries (the bucket-company strategy many families have used for years) do not.

That makes distributing trust income to a company materially more expensive than it is today.

The Government is offering three years of rollover relief from 1 July 2027 for families who want to restructure out of a discretionary trust into a company or fixed trust. Stamp duty and other state-level implications still need to be worked through, but the runway is real.

If your structure runs through a family trust, this is the change worth talking about first.

Our full take on the 2026 Federal Budget:
https://www.primeadvisory.com.au/2026-federal-budget-summary/

Budget2026

Division 296 is now law. It applies to super balances over $3 million.

But there’s a one-off opportunity that applies to SMSF members, regardless of your balance.

Before 30 June 2026, you can elect to reset your capital gains tax cost base to the current market value of your super assets. Even if you’re at $500,000.

If your balance ever reaches $3 million, making this election now could save you significantly.

Miss it, and the opportunity is gone.

If your super balance is above $2.5 million, or you expect it to be down the track, get in touch before 30 June.

https://www.primeadvisory.com.au/tax-planning-2026/

Picking next year’s top-performing asset class is close to impossible.

Take emerging markets. In 2017, they were the best-performing asset class in the world, up 37%. In 2018, they were the worst, down 14%. In 2019, they bounced back with an 18% increase.

One year top. The next year’s bottom. The year after that, back again.

Every asset class does it. Australian shares, international shares, bonds, property, and cash. The leaderboard reshuffles every year, and no one can tell you in January which one will win in December.

That’s why diversification matters more than forecasting.

A diversified portfolio holds a bit of everything. You give up the chance of owning the single top performer, but you also avoid being stuck in the worst one. The ride gets smoother, which matters most when markets wobble and the temptation to sell into cash is strongest.

Investors who move to cash after a fall usually miss the rebound.

Staying diversified is how you stay invested. Staying invested is how you capture the long-term returns.

If your portfolio is heavily tilted towards one asset class, or recent volatility has you thinking about shifting everything to cash, it’s worth a conversation before you act.

The ATO isn’t just looking for people who broke the rules.

They’re looking for administrative errors. Trust resolutions that weren’t signed in time. Deeds that don’t match how the trust has been run. Distributions where the beneficiary never actually received the money.

If your trust deed is more than five or six years old, it’s worth a review.

If your distribution resolutions aren’t done before 30 June, they can’t be backdated. The trustee pays tax at 47%.

These aren’t things you fix later. They need attention now.

https://www.primeadvisory.com.au/tax-planning-2026/

TaxPlanning