Answer three quick questions to find out if the proposed trust rules could affect you — and what to consider. These reforms still need to pass Parliament.
The new 30% minimum tax on discretionary trusts eliminates any benefit of distributing capital gains to a company. From 1 July 2028, the trust pays 30% regardless — and corporate beneficiaries get no tax credit for this.
What to do:
Distributing capital gains from a discretionary trust to low-income family members still generates a tax credit for those individuals — but the trust must first pay 30% minimum tax on those gains. The net saving is much smaller than before.
What to do:
If you're not sure how your trust distributes income, you need to find out before 1 July 2028. The impact of the new rules depends entirely on your specific setup.
The new 30% minimum tax only applies to discretionary trusts. Unit trusts and fixed trusts are excluded from this rule. Your structure is not directly affected by this budget change.
Self-Managed Super Funds are already taxed at 15% (10% on assets held 12+ months). The new discretionary trust rules and CGT discount changes do not apply to SMSFs.
The trust rules don't affect you, but the CGT discount changes do. Any crypto gains you realise after 1 July 2027 will be subject to the new split calculation.
The impact of the new rules is very different depending on whether you have a discretionary trust, unit trust, or SMSF. You need to know before 1 July 2028.