Taxation Planning & Compliance
Who can keep up with all the changes?
We can. Income Tax Law is almost literally changing daily. If you’re not fully aware of how this legislation might affect you, you could be paying more tax than you should, or worse still, face heavy penalties for not complying.
Sound, current and innovative taxation advice is the cornerstone of our business. It’s not about simply attending to your year-end compliance work. We develop tax planning strategies, ensure that these measures have been implemented and consider the effect of any changes on you. Our personal touch allows us to do this better because we know our clients well.
Legally minimising your tax is not just about making sure you pay the right amount of tax. Because of the compounding effect of sound tax advice, over the life of your business, it’s a pillar of any robust wealth creation strategy.
Business Advice
Accounting is about a lot more than just meeting your compliance requirements.
The heart of good business management is good information. Data is prolific these days, and can be accessed in such volumes that it rapidly becomes overwhelming and meaningless. Our skills enable you to turn data into meaningful information.
This includes:
- costing of services and products
- review of expenditure to reduce costs
- efficiency studies
- needs analyses
- identification of key performance indicators
- development of meaningful report formats
- structuring strategies for asset protection and tax minimisation
We present this information, in conjunction with any other relevant issues, in a form that you can understand, which helps you to make management decisions. We can even join you at at management meetings when required, to assist you in your decision-making processes.
We can be your own personal financial controller. You may not need us all the time, but when you do, we’ll be there.
Budgets and Forecasting
The old saying is true – failure to plan is a plan for failure
Budgets are an important tool in planning for the future of your business. If you have a clear idea of what’s going to happen, you can plan around this. You can see what works and what doesn’t, and repeat or pivot.
We can help you budget and monitor. This can range from simply providing professional advice or coaching in preparing a budget to regular meetings to help you plan and review your performance.
We can also assist you in preparing an overall business plan, so that you have clear goals for the future that permeate all aspects of your business, not just the bottom line.
Of course, budgeting and planning is not limited to the business environment alone. We can help you accomplish your financial and lifestyle goals whether you work for yourself or someone else.
Succession Planning
What happens when you’re ready to get out?
Sooner or later, every business owner comes to a point where they have to pass the reins onto someone else. Whether this involves handing them on to another family member or selling up entirely, many business owners fail to transition on their own terms because they fail to plan in advance.
There are as many scenarios as there are businesses. Maybe you’re not ready to ‘retire ‘ yet but you’d like to keep working on your own terms without all the extra stress that comes with having skin in the game. Perhaps you have a willing and capable buyer who is unable to find the capital up-front to buy you out.
We have experience managing successful transitions for many large South Australian businesses. We can help you ensure that when the time comes, you get the outcome you want.
Self-Managed Superannuation Funds
We can help you complete the compliance requirements for your Superannuation Fund, ensuring that your fund meets its legal obligations for taxation and superannuation regulatory purposes.
We can also provide you with the expert information you need to ensure that your decision making with respect to your fund takes into account the most tax effective options available. This includes providing you with the information you need in relation to taxation limits for the amounts that you can contribute to superannuation, and what tax savings you will obtain.
We can help you determine the amount of pension that you are required to draw from the fund and what the tax implications of doing so are.
If you don’t have a SMSF, we can also assist you in understanding and determining the tax consequences of running one.
Please note: Our services with respect to SMSFs extend only to taxation, administration and compliance. If you require investment or personal financial advice you should consult an appropriately licensed or authorised financial adviser. We are not a licensed financial services adviser.
Estate Planning
It’s something most of us would prefer not to think about, but…
…what happens to everything after you’ve gone? With the complexity of our legal and taxation system, planning for the financial consequences of death is not something that can be left until the need arises. And it’s not something that anyone should leave to their loved ones. Many families have been torn apart by instructions that are too vague or incomplete, and even where this isn’t the case, they can end up getting much less that you intend due to unforeseen tax consequences.
We work with you and your solicitors to ensure that your wishes are transcribed into a form that is legally binding, and ensure that your wishes are carried out. What’s more, we can help you plan now for the Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax implications of your estate, and can structure your financial affairs to minimise tax and stress and maximise the benefit for your beneficiaries.
Doctors in Practice
We’ve been working closely with medical practitioners since we started. Decades of experience helping doctors in practice has enabled us to understand that a medical practice is more than just another business. In particular, the challenges of navigating partnerships, service fee arrangements and the tax consequences of managing these things – including state taxes like Payroll Tax – are unique, especially in an environment when local practices are increasingly being consolidated into large corporate conglomerates.
Significantly, we’re not practice management consultants. There are plenty of systems advisers that help practices operate more efficiently. We don’t tell you how to operate. Instead we’re specialist advisers to doctors who are in practice.
If you’re a doctor, we can help you legally minimise your tax, protect your assets and build your family wealth through specialised advice that takes into account the distinctive challenges and opportunities that come with being a doctor in practice.
Trellis is also proud to have been the exclusive accounting partner of the Australian Chinese Medical Association (SA) for more than 10 years.
Independent Expert Witness
When you need to accurately quantify financial losses or damages as a part of legal proceedings, getting the right expert witness can make all the difference in the success of the outcome.
We have the experience required to make sure that the damages arising from fraud, negligence and other matters of professional misconduct and ethics are accurately and independently investigated and quantified.
We can also provide independent financial testimony in the case of personal disputes, such as matrimonial and partnership breakdowns.
Eye Care Practitioners
Like any industry, the eye care market has its own unique business challenges to deal with.
One of our specialties is in helping those in the eye care industry manage these issues and develop and grow their businesses. We know the industry and the increased complexity that comes with operating within it. It’s an industry that is in transition, as smaller providers are faced with either being absorbed by the larger corporates that are moving aggressively, or holding out and continuing on independently.
If you operate in the ophthalmic industry, we can help you to:
- Accurately price your products and services.
- Meet your specific compliance obligations.
- Use your financial data to improve your margins and identify problem areas and new opportunities.
- Develop a business plan to grow your practice.
- Make sure you have adequate protection in place to manage your risk.
- Plan for succession and get the best price for your practice (when the time comes).
- Make an informed decision as to whether you should sell out to a bigger player.
And that’s just the start.
Your accountant should be a guide. Why not have one who knows the terrain?