Lending money to Discretionary Trust (with corporate trustee)

[#1]

I am about the set up a Discretionary Trust with a Corporate Trustee. I am the director of the corporate (company) and employee of the business. The business will operate through the Trust.

1. Am I able to lend money interest free to the Trust to get it started from my personal savings (i.e. beneficiary loan)

2. If yes, when I want this money back will it come back to me tax free

3. Do you have to have an Accountant or Tax specialist lodge the tax returns of a Discretionary Trust (assuming no trading in the corporate trustee company & all trust income is distributed to trust beneficiaries & taxed a their marginal tax rates)

4. Do you have to have an Auditor involved with Tax returns for a Discretionary Trust & a no trading corporate trustee company 

5. Is there anything else I should be aware of in this scenario ?

thanks in advance for any assistance 

[#2 · Accepted solution]

Hi @belli17,

Thanks for getting in touch!

We can provide general information here on our Community and your first couple of questions around lending money interest free and paying it back needs careful consideration and needs to be in line with what is stated in the trust deed. For a tailored response regarding this, you can contact our Early engagement team by submitting a request form and requesting a call back and an officer will contact you to discuss further. 

A trust tax return can be completed by you as trustee or a registered tax agent an there is no requirement for an auditor involved for the trust.

You can find more information about starting a trust and your obligations on our website.

Thanks, JodieH.

[#3]

1.  Can be done, depends on the deed.

2. Yes depends on the above.

3. No, but be sure that you know what you're doing.

4. No if the turnover and assets are under specific threshold (we are talking about mils) 

5. Many things that cannot be answered here as one needs to know your overall situation