Tax Structures 101

Interested in paying less tax, property investment structures, trusts and protecting your assets? This is the right book to read.

Try asking two lawyers and two accountants "How should I own my property and business assets?" You will likely get four different answers. They all seem adamant and fixed in their views, so which professional is right? What is best for your individual circumstances is very difficult to judge, even for seasoned professionals.

If you get your taxation and legal structures wrong, at the very least you will have to pay to fix them. But much worse, you could potentially lose all of your assets in the event of financial disaster. You might pay more tax than is lawfully required. You may lose half your pre-marital assets to a spouse, through divorce. You might die with poor estate planning, leaving a mess for your relatives to clean up. Or you may pay tax on property transactions, because you don’t understand the traps of property tax that catch rookie investors and traders. The list goes on, there are so many issues to consider.

This book answers many frequently asked questions about taxation and legal structures, including:

• The basics and how to put them together – common structures like trusts, LTCs etc.
• What structure should an ordinary family or single person have?
• What are the best structures for property investors, traders and business owners?
• How do you minimise tax lawfully? What’s kosher with the IRD?
• Why is GST and deemed zero rating so risky, and what can you do to protect yourself?
• How do you protect assets from banks and the many risks of life and commerce?
• What should your lawyer and accountant be looking at to give you a better outcome?
• What should you not let your lawyers and accountants do?
• Lots more...

Matthew Gilligan has over 20 years of experience as a chartered accountant, specialising in asset planning. He is the director of GRA’s Asset Planning team, which has restructured the affairs of over 10,000 families in New Zealand. Matthew presents a practical guide to taxation and commercial structures, with a focus on property structures, tax and bank finance. Written in plain language, he makes a very complex topic easy to grasp and interesting to absorb, with many case studies and practical examples.