Death and Taxes are certain… but you can RIP (and reduce the tax) with Professional Estate Planning

Some legal advisors are good at drafting wills… they look at the legal aspects but don’t necessarily look at the tax implications. We recently had a situation where a client’s family company owed one of the shareholder/director’s approx $600,000. This client’s legal advisor had proposed that the loan be forgiven in the shareholder’s will. The consequence of this was that the loan, which could be repaid to the shareholder at any time ‘tax free’, would now be a ‘taxable dividend’. Had we not stepped in with our effective Estate Planning advice, the end result would have meant that when the loan was repaid, the tax payable would have been in the vicinity of $250,000! MORE

Hayes Knight Audit QLD can now audit US and Canadian securities issuers

Hayes Knight Audit Qld was recently granted registered status with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB).  This is the governing body for publicly listed companies in the USA and means that we can conduct audits of entities that are issuers of securities in the US.

Similarly we are registered with the Canadian Public Accountability Board (CPAB), which gives us the same status in Canada as we have in the US.  These registrations mean that we can manage and co-ordinate Australian company audit requirements almost anywhere around the world, and also manage the Australian audit compliance for companies listed in the US or Canada. MORE