Monthly update, July 2026

Welcome to the July edition of our client newsletter. This month, we’ve compiled a selection of timely and practical insights across tax, superannuation and financial planning, helping you stay informed, confident, and in control of your financial decisions.

• Family Trusts: If you have a family trust there are two recent major (very major) things that have happened that will affect the way they will be taxed in the future.
• New tax Legislation: With the Budget changes now legislated, perhaps it’s time to consider more closely how they may affect you, and what you can do about it – especially in relation to the CGT discount changes.
• Foreign Residents cannot get a CGT exempt home: If you are a foreign resident for tax purposes when you sell your Australian home, you cannot claim the usual capital gains tax exemption on it. This applies no matter how long you lived in the home. It applies even if you were only a foreign resident for a short time before the sale.
• High Court rules unpaid trust amounts are not loans: If your family trust gives a company a share of trust income but does not actually pay it across, the High Court has confirmed this is not automatically treated as a loan back to the trust. That matters, because being treated as a loan could trigger an unexpected tax bill under the rules known as Division 7A.
• Borrowing in your SMSF: Self-managed super funds are generally not allowed to borrow money. A limited recourse borrowing arrangement, or LRBA, is one of the few exceptions. It lets a fund borrow to buy a single asset, with the lender’s rights limited to that asset alone.

Is Super Still Worth It With a new tax on large super balances many people are asking where the best place is to grow wealth for retirement. The answer for many people is that super remains a great place to grow wealth. In fact, super may now be more attractive than ever before.

Getting Your SMSF Asset Valuations Right Knowing what your self managed super fund (SMSF) assets are worth has always mattered. It matters even more if your balance is approaching or is over $3 million. A new super tax and updated rules mean that getting your valuations right can affect how much tax you pay.

We hope you find this edition informative and valuable. As always, if you have any questions or would like advice tailored to your circumstances, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

This issue reflects the law when it was published. Tax and super rules change often, so please call us before acting on anything in it.