Tag Archives: small business CGT concessions

Aggregating for dual $6m MNAV tests following 2018 small business CGT concession integrity changes – with the aid of chess!

Those seeking the small business capital gains tax (CGT) concessions in the 2018 and later income years need to be wary of modified small business CGT concession integrity rules which apply from 8 February 2018 by virtue of Schedule 2 of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Integrity and Other Measures) Act 2018 (TIOMA).

The small business CGT concessions in Division 152 of the Income Tax Assessment Act (ITAA) 1997 may look straight forward but there are subtle complications within the misnamed “basic” conditions for the relief which can be matrixlike. The small business CGT concessions are generous so perhaps it is right that rules to protect their integrity, as ramped up by the TIOMA, are more complicated than the rules that ordinarily impose a CGT liability on sales of small business related CGT assets.

Share or interest sales need to meet additional basic conditions

For CGT events involving sales of shares in companies or interests in trusts “additional” basic conditions have commenced with the TIOMA. The additional basic conditions go further than what I describe here. In this post I wish to focus on the significance of the dual $6m maximum net asset value tests that the TIOMA initiates. So in the below considerations I am going to assume that the other basic conditions for the small business CGT concessions, including the additional basic conditions, such as the dual active asset test, which also needs to be considered following the introduction of the TIOMA, will be met.

The dual MNAV and SBE tests

The dual $6m maximum net asset value (MNAV) tests are alternative tests with the similarly dual small business entity ($2m aggregated turnover) (SBE) tests which apply where the small business CGT relief is sought on a sale of shares in a company or an interest in a trust. The dual MNAV tests and SBE tests separately test both the taxpayer (“you”) and the object entity which is the relevant company or trust in which the shares are or interest is held by the taxpayer as the case may be. To obtain relief under the basic conditions, and under the additional basic conditions set out in sub-section 152-10 as revised by the TIOMA, the dual tests must be separately satisfied to obtain any small business CGT concession relief:

Taxpayer must satisfy	AND	Object entity must satisfy
MNAV test or SBE test		Modified MNAV test or SBE test and carried on business up to day of sale

When the object entity MNAV test becomes vital

In practice, there is a significant slew of sales of shares or trust interests where the object entity won’t satisfy the SBE test because of:

an aggregated annual turnover of the object entity of more than $2 million; or
alternatively, the object entity may satisfy that SBE test but paragraph 152-10(2)(a) may apply because the object entity ceased to carry on its business some time before the sale.

In those cases the object entity also needs to satisfy the MNAV test even where the taxpayer has separately satisfied either of the MNAV test or the SBE test or both.

Satisfaction of the MNAV test by the object entity may thus be vital to the availability of the small business CGT concessions to a taxpayer selling shares or a trust interest. Where the object entity, let us say a private company with multiple owners, is worth more than $6m overall, this may well be a problem for minority owners who otherwise are:

on or over the 20% significant individual/CGT stakeholder threshold; or
with net asset value (NAV) under $6m who sell their shares looking for the small business CGT concessions.

The Explanatory Memorandum with the TIOMA gives the following example:

Example 2.4: Investment in large business

Karen carries on a small consulting business as a sole trader. She is a CGT small business entity (according to the general rules) for the 2019-20 income year. Karen also owns 30 per cent of the shares in Big Pty Ltd, a large private company with annual turnover in excess of $20 million in both the 2018-19 and 2019 CGT assets exceeds $100 million throughout this period. On 1 October 2019, Karen sells her shares in Big Pty Ltd. She would not be eligible to access the Division 152 CGT concessions for any resulting capital gain. Even if Karen satisfies the other basic conditions for relief, she cannot satisfy the new condition. Big Pty Ltd is not a CGT small business entity in the 2019-20 income year. It also does not satisfy the maximum net asset value test in relation to the capital gain, as its net assets exceed $6 million immediately prior to the CGT event happening (being in excess of $100 million for the entire income year).

MNAV test complexities

Like the SBE test with aggregated turnover of the taxpayer, affiliates and their connected entities, compliance with the MNAV test relies on, or more specifically NAV (net asset value) must stay under the relevant $6m limit after, aggregation.

Before aggregation is considered there is a flip side: the exclusions from the MNAV test: The substantial exclusions are confined to individual taxpayers viz. interests in an individual’s main residence, personal use assets, superannuation and insurance: section 152-20 of the ITAA 1997. The other exclusions in this section are largely to prevent accounting anomalies with:

accounting provisions; and
the double counting of the value of an asset indirectly held in an entity and the value of the stake in the entity including the asset, representing the same value, in NAV.

Liabilities are also excluded from NAV where they relate to assets so the MNAV test can be a maximum net asset value test.

The value of assets that are not excluded are tallied in NAV when applying the MNAV test. Then aggregation must be done. Just like with the complexity of small business CGT concessions integrity more generally, MNAV tests and sometimes qualification for the concessions, involve a hierarchy of constructs which, for the purposes of illustration, can be loosely compared to the pieces on a chessboard one’s opponent in chess may hold:

Chess piece: King

Div 152 construct: The taxpayer

Comment: If the King falls, it’s game over. If either NAV of the taxpayer or (modified) NAV of the object entity exceeds $6m in each required MNAV test the basic condition is failed unless there is a pathway to compliance through the SBE test as described above.

Chess piece: Queen

Div 152 construct: An affiliate

Comment: Although an affiliate is not the taxpayer (or object entity), the NAV of the affiliate also counts/aggregates to the taxpayer (or object entity) when applying the MNAV test to the taxpayer (or object entity), in all directions including NAV aggregated from connected (and Oconnected in the case of an object entity – see below) entities of the affiliate.

Chess piece: Bishop

Div 152 construct: Connected entities

Comment: The whole of the NAV of the connected entity (excluding the exclusions described above) counts in the MNAV test. So if a taxpayer, or an affiliate, has a stake of 50% in a connected entity X, all (100%) of X’s net value is aggregated to the taxpayer’s NAV (including NAV relating to the stake in X of minority stakeholders unrelated to the taxpayer or affiliate). If Y is a connected entity of X then aggregate all (100%) of Y’s net value to the taxpayer’s NAV too.

Chess piece: Knight

Div 152 construct: Oconnected entities

Comment: The Oconnected entity (my terminology – I thought of using “controlled entity” which is in contrast to a connected entity which can either control or be controlled by the other entity it is connected to. But controlled entity is misleading for, as we shall see, only a 20% stake, hardly control in any sense, is needed to trigger this link) is a new construct introduced with the additional basic conditions in the TIOMA relating to the object entity.

The NAV of a Oconnected entity is aggregated to the NAV of the object entity but it is look through forward to aggregate and not look through back too (unlike “controlled by the other entity” which can connect too to a connected entity). An example is needed to explain constructs here: So if O, an object entity controls Q an Oconnected entity, due to a 20% or greater stake in Q, and P is another unrelated stakeholder in Q; the value of Q owned by P is included in the NAV of Q aggregated to O (see the outcome of that in the below Example 2.5 drawn from the Explanatory Memorandum) but the NAV of P and its connected entities is excluded from the NAV of O (if they are not separately affiliated/connected to O).

In chess the Knight moves in a weird way so the Knight is the allegory chosen here!

Chess piece: Pawn

Div 152 construct: Asset or investment of the above

Comment: A pawn generally moves one space in chess. $1 in value of an asset or investment owned by a taxpayer or object entity, which is not excluded, counts $1 to the NAV of the taxpayer or an object entity. $1 in value of an asset or investment owned by affiliates, connected entities and Oconnected entities, which are not excluded, count $1 to the affiliate, connected entity and Oconnected entity, as the case may be, but if that NAV is in an affiliate, a connected entity or a Oconnected entity of the taxpayer or object entity in applying the dual tests, the whole NAV of the relevant entity is aggregated to the taxpayer/object entity, not its proportionate NAV based on percentage stake. i.e. A percentage stake is only used for an interest in an entity where the entity the interest is held in is not an affiliate, connected entity or, in the case of the object entity MNAV test, an Oconnected entity.

I don’t play chess and I accept my chess analogy with the workings of the MNAV tests is far from perfect. My endeavour is to make this consideration of the hierarchical workings of the MNAV tests a little more comprehendible and so, perhaps, if you are still reading by this point I have succeeded? If the comparison with chess conveys:

that counts of over $6m by either of the taxpayer NAV or the object entity NAV will generally mean failure of a basic condition for the Division 152 CGT relief so can lead to loss of the game; and
that high value pieces accelerate aggregation of NAV to the $6m limit. That is they can move more than one space: every $1 of a stake a taxpayer (or object entity) in a connected entity (or Oconnected entity), and affiliates and their connected entities without needing any stake in the affiliate of the taxpayer (or object entity) will generally aggregate more than $1 to NAV as the value of others’ stakes in these entities will count to the NAV attributed to the taxpayer (or object entity) too.

The modified MNAV test of the object entity & the modified Oconnected entity

The NAV for controlled entities of an object entity is different due to sub-paras 152-10(2)(c)(iii), (iv) & (v) in the TIOMA:

The threshold between unrelated entity, counted simply as an asset or investment (pawn) to NAV and connected entity (bishop) consistent with other tests of control in the ITAA 1936 and the ITAA 1997 is 40% with a discretion given to the Commissioner where:

there is 40% or over and under a 50% stake; and
it can be established to the Commissioner that some other entity controls the entity that would otherwise be the connected entity.

In practice this means expect the Commissioner to de-connect A from connection with X if A owned 48% of X and B (unconnected to A) owned 52% of X.

When applying the object entity MNAV test, sub-paras 152-10(2)(c)(iii), (iv) & (v) have operation so that the threshold is lowered to a 20% stake in the other entity. That is enough “control” to make the other entity, otherwise an asset or investment, an Oconnected entity (knight). This is apparent from another example in the Explanatory Memorandum with the TIOMA:

Example 2.5: Indirect investment in large business

Tien owns 20 per cent of the shares in Investment Co, a company that carries on an investment business. Investment Co is a CGT small business entity (according to the general rules) for the 2020-21 income year. Investment Co holds 20 per cent of Van Co, a transport company. Van’s assets mean that it is not a CGT small business entity in the 2020-21 income year and does not satisfy the maximum net asset value test at any point during the income year. On 15 May 2021, Tien sells his shares in Investment Co. He is not eligible to access the Division 152 CGT concessions for any resulting capital gain. Even if Tien satisfies the other conditions, he cannot satisfy the new condition requiring the object entity be a CGT small business entity or satisfy the maximum net asset value test due to the modifications that apply when determining this matter for the purposes of this condition. For the purposes of this condition, Investment Co is considered to be connected with Van Co, as Investment Co holds 20 per cent of Van.

As stated in the table above there is no look through back so in a case where an object entity has a stake of 21% of X, the NAV in entities connected to X by virtue of the remaining 79% stakes in X are excluded from the object entity NAV although the NAV of the assets of X, including that relating to the other stakeholders, counts to the object entity NAV.

The discretionary capital distribution – it’s a CGT free gift!

Annual income distributions by family discretionary trusts (FDTs) are routine for trustees for apparent Australian income tax reasons but trustees of FDTs can be reluctant to distribute trust capital. What would be the reason for that reluctance? Why don’t trustees of FDTs make capital distributions more often?

The trust deed

The regime in a FDT deed typically centres on distribution of capital on the vesting of the FDT. However even older and archaic FDT deeds usually expressly allow for interim distribution of capital, that is, distribution of trust capital before the FDT vests and winds up. Interim distribution of capital to beneficiaries, rather than holding it for them until the vesting day, is often conditional on the distribution being for the “maintenance education advancement in life or benefit” either for infant beneficiaries or for beneficiaries generally – see Fischer v Nemeske Pty. Ltd. [2016] HCA 11: a condition which, in ordinary family dealings, can readily be met.

Purpose of a FDT

A FDT is, in its essence, an arrangement to benefit family members. A FDT can be seen as a pool set aside to gift to family members. But is a distribution to a family beneficiary from a FDT treated the same for tax as a family gift to a family member?

It is useful to think about differences between a FDT and other types of entities before answering that:

Difference to a proprietary company

A proprietary company has the legal status of a separate person and the release of company capital to a shareholder of a company is subject to a number of corporations law and tax technicalities. A company can have wide objects but giving its value away to other persons would not usually be one of them. Under tax rules the enrichment of a shareholder’s family member from a company’s capital is likely dividend income assessable to income tax either directly or as a “payment” under section 109C of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936.

Difference to a unit trust

A trustee of a genuine unit trust would generally be required to make capital distributions in equal proportions based on the unit holdings of unit holders. If capital distributions from a unit trust are feasible the capital gains tax (CGT) rules can discourage the trustee from making these distributions before vesting. CGT event E4 applies to distributions of capital of a unit trust which are not in connection with the disposal of the units to reduce the cost base of the unit holder by the amount of the distribution and, to the extent the cost base doesn’t cover the amount of the distribution, the excess is a capital gain assessable to unit holders.

How CGT applies to distributions of capital by FDTs

CGT event E4 does not apply to non-assessable capital distributions from a FDT. In Taxation Determination TD 2003/28 Income tax: capital gains: does CGT event E4 in section 104-70 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 happen if the trustee of a discretionary trust makes a non-assessable payment to: (a) a mere object; or (b) a default beneficiary? the Commissioner of Taxation confirms his longstanding view and practice, since the introduction of CGT in 1986, that CGT event E4 does not happen if a trustee of a discretionary trust makes a non-assessable payment to a mere object. That is, a mere discretionary beneficiary where the entitlement to the payment arose because the trustee exercised its discretion in the beneficiary’s favour and the interest was not acquired by the beneficiary for consideration or by way of assignment.

The CGT similarity of FDT cash distributions and cash gifts

The enrichment of a family beneficiary of a FDT by an interim distribution of the capital of a FDT is not, of itself, subject to CGT based on TD 2003/28 i.e. there is no CGT on a distribution of cash to a beneficiary from the capital of a FDT. If there is a distribution of a CGT asset from the capital of a FDT to a beneficiary that is a different story. CGT events E5 and E7 can apply to subject the realisation of the CGT asset by the FDT to a family beneficiary to CGT (see sub-sections 104-75(3) and 104-85(3) respectively of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 which visits the CGT event on the the trustee of the trust – sub-sections 104-75(6) and 104-85(6) generally enable the beneficiary of a FDT to disregard a capital gain or capital loss under either of these CGT events where the beneficiary acquired the asset within the trust without incurring expenditure viz. on a capital distribution by the trustee the beneficiary is treated only as the acquirer of the asset for CGT purposes).

But there is no fundamental difference between a distribution of a CGT asset from the capital of a FDT, and the CGT events that apply to it, and how a family gift of a CGT asset by an individual is treated for CGT. That is, a gift of cash is CGT free and a gift in the form of property that is a CGT asset is subjected to CGT: not because of the gift but because a CGT asset is being realised and the CGT regime brings gains in value on a CGT asset to tax on a change of ownership.

So cash distributions of capital by a FDT, where permissible under a trust deed of a FDT, can generally occur, either with income year end income distributions or at other times during the currency of a FDT, without income tax consequences.

However there is a problematic exception:

Small business CGT concessions participation percentage

Under item 2 in the table in section 152-70 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 the “small business participation percentage” of a beneficiary of a FDT is the smaller of the percentages of the beneficiary’s entitlement to income and the beneficiary’s entitlement to capital in an income year if both income distributions and capital distributions are made in that year. Generally beneficiaries are better off qualifying for a sufficient small business participation percentage to qualify for the concessions if no distribution of capital, or no divergent distribution of capital (bearing in mind that a capital gain on an active asset distributed by a FDT is likely to have a capital component), has been made in the income year the relevant capital gain has been made in to some other beneficiary.

So if a capital gain arises to a FDT in an income year which can attract the small business CGT concessions in Division 152 of that Act, then a distribution of the income in that income year substantially to family member A, including entitlement to a capital gain, may not count or count sufficiently in the measurement of small business participation percentage where a cash distribution of capital has been made to family member B and not family member A who is left with a “smaller” participation percentage. It could be that family member A may thus not qualify as a significant individual or as a CGT concession stakeholder without the sufficient interest in capital distributions of the FDT in the relevant income year in which the capital gain was made.

So a trustee of FDT needs to be wary of cash distributions of capital from a FDT and, indeed, the streaming of capital gains where there has been a capital gain that can attract the small business CGT concessions to ensure that the desired beneficiaries have sufficient entitlements to capital that can attract the concessions. If the small business CGT concessions participation percentage is not in issue a cash distribution from from the capital of a FDT to a beneficiary can be a tax benign.

Preparing to change land ownership from a company to a trust

A company controlled by X owns land. X would prefer it if the land was held by a trust or in an individual name such as X or Y, X’s spouse.

Significant capital gains tax (“CGT”) on the transfer of the land is not expected by X and Y. Is a transfer of the land to a trust or to X or Y or both worthwhile? Here are some tax implications X may want to think about:

Capital gains tax

If the land has increased in value X will want to consider CGT more closely:

If the land is not an active asset, or if the small business CGT concessions or the new small business restructure roll-over, can’t apply for some other reason, the value of the land, when disposed of, will be taken into account in determining CGT. i.e. the market value substitution rule will apply in the event of an undervalue transfer of the land. An undervalue transfer of the land is rarely likely to be effective under tax rules.

The small business CGT concessions and the new small business restructure roll-over don’t apply if the asset is not an active asset. The land won’t be an active asset if it is mainly used by the company, and related parties of the company, to earn rent. As the land is held in a company, the 50% CGT discount is not available to the company on the transfer of the land.

Problems with a gift or an undervalue transfer

If full value is not payable to the company for the land then, without more, a transfer of the land could be treated as a dividend taxable in full to the transferee as a shareholder of the company, as a deemed dividend taxable to the transferee as an associate of the shareholders of the company, or may possibly be taxable to the company as a fringe benefit. Further if the company has taken the approach of gift there may be difficulties establishing that the company was legally entitled to give the land away to the transferee if that is what is done. Indications of a gift might give a creditor of the company additional rights to pursue the transferee for the value of the land that belonged to the company especially if the stance of the company is that the transfer was not any sort of dividend or remuneration to X or Y.

A sale of the land by the company for full value is more defensible. The sale can be on terms rather than for cash payable on settlement. If the transferee doesn’t follow through, and pay the value in cash or on the agreed terms, then the sale for value can be treated as a sham and the consequences of undervalue transfer can then follow.

So defensible transfers of the land include:

sales at full value on (genuine) terms; and
distribution of the value of the land to the shareholders of the company (not in the form of cash) on the voluntary liquidation of the company.

CGT event A1 – but watch out for CGT event E2 if a transfer to a trust

Usually CGT event A1 is attracted when land is transferred from one beneficial owner to another. CGT event A1 is taken to occur at the time of (in the income year of) the disposal, that is, the time of the transfer unless the transfer is made under a contract. If the transfer occurs under a contract and CGT event A1 applies, CGT event A1 is taken to occur at the time of making of the contract.

This can be significant where a contract and settlement straddle the end of an income year, with the time of the contract bringing forward the capital gain into the earlier income year if CGT event A1 applies. If the transferee is a related trust of the vendor then CGT event E2 can apply rather than CGT event A1. CGT event E2 though, unlike CGT event A1, does not bring forward the time of the CGT event to the time of the contract so, if CGT event E2 applies, the capital gain will be made in the later income year.

Stamp duty on a transfer

Stamp duty varies from state to state but generally applies to acquisitions of land based on the market value of the land, not the price to the transferee/purchaser. Very generally speaking it is usually charged at around 5% of the land value. The states offer limited stamp duty relief when acquisitions occur without a change in ultimate beneficial or economic ownership of the land. For instance, in New South Wales and Victoria relief exists in the form of corporate reconstruction concessions. These concessions are generally not available where the acquisition is by a trust or an individual. Thus stamp duty would need to be budgeted for by X as a further cost of transferring the land.

Goods and services tax

If the company is registered or ought to be registered for the goods and service tax and the land in used in an enterprise carried on by the company then the company may be obliged to charge 10% GST to the transferee on the transfer (taxable supply) of the land. If the transferee is also registered for GST, and will use the land in the transferee’s enterprise, then the transferee can obtain an input tax credit/refund of the GST charged to the transferee. The company and the transferee, if registered for GST, may also:

be able to claim the GST going concern exemption if they take the necessary steps for the exemption; or
be members of a GST group;

which would relieve the company of the obligation to charge GST to the transferee.

Is a family trust a good way for setting up a new franchisor business?

A family discretionary trust structure is a slightly more complicated and costly structure but it has more flexibility than a holding company structure for distributing income tax effectively while also being capable of having limited liability protection for the franchisor along with potential access to the company tax rate through a beneficiary company.

But is one trust enough?

For asset protection and management reasons it may be multiple structures are desirable into the future to separately hold IP and property interests (including lease interests to be sub-let).

Trust a conduit to beneficiaries

A family trust can distribute business profits as trust distributions as a conduit of taxable income to adult resident beneficiaries.

Division 7A would not usually apply

A significant advantage with a family trust structure is that Division 7A does not apply to loans from the trust to associated parties (where companies are not involved) to treat them as taxable/unfrankable deemed dividends.

Capital gains tax advantages

The adult resident beneficiaries of a family trust can also use the CGT discount if the trust makes a capital gain. Sometimes a trust is a more difficult structure than a company if a new franchise venture makes losses (say due to difficulties finding and keeping franchisees on good terms).

Bringing in new equity

A family trust isn’t as good as a unit trust or a company for bringing in new equity participants however it appears that, with the new small business restructure CGT rollover relief, a later conversion to a unit trust structure can be done for a low cost.

CGT discount and small business CGT concessions

Capital gains made by a family trust structure could attract the CGT discount and the small business concessions (a company can only get the latter), such as the 50% active assets reduction. A family trust structure has the tax advantage over a company structure if CGT assets of the business, including goodwill, are at some stage sold for a capital gain by the trust.