For Business · Protection
Asset Protection
Trading risk belongs in the trading entity. Your home, your investments and your super should not be on the same balance sheet.
Overview
The structure only protects you if the paperwork does
Asset protection is not one decision. It is the accumulated effect of which entity signs the lease, whose name is on the title, whether the loan between your entities is documented, and whether the director guarantee you signed four years ago is still live. Most business owners have a structure that would have worked, undermined by documents nobody updated.
We map what you own and what carries risk, separate the two where they have blended, document the loans and securities between your entities so they are enforceable, and review director liabilities. Then we set the triggers that should bring you back: a new premises, a new partner, a first employee.
How we help
- 01
Trading and asset-holding entities
Risk isolated in the trading entity, with valuable assets held separately and licensed back where appropriate.
- 02
Trusts and corporate trustees
Discretionary trusts with corporate trustees, so no individual carries trustee liability personally.
- 03
Director personal liability review
Director penalty notices, personal guarantees and insolvent trading exposure identified while they can still be managed.
- 04
Loan and security documentation
Inter-entity loans documented and secured with PPSR registrations, so they rank as real debts.
- 05
Review triggers
A schedule of the events that should bring you back: new premises, new partner, first employee, first million.
Resources
Is your home on the same balance sheet as your business?
A protection review tells you what is exposed and what it would take to separate it.
FAQ
Asset protection questions
Only partly. A company limits liability for company debts, but banks and landlords usually require a personal guarantee, and directors can be personally liable for unpaid PAYG withholding and superannuation through a director penalty notice. Structure is one layer, not the whole answer.
It is a common approach and it can work, but it is not automatic. Transfers can trigger stamp duty and CGT, timing matters if a claim is already foreseeable, and the arrangement has consequences if the relationship ends. We model it properly before recommending it.
It depends whether a claim is foreseeable. Restructuring in the ordinary course of business years before a problem is legitimate planning. Moving assets once a creditor is circling can be clawed back and can make things considerably worse.
Where a trust carries any risk, yes. An individual trustee is personally liable for trust obligations and has no ceiling on that liability. A corporate trustee costs a few hundred dollars a year and puts a company between the trust's obligations and your personal assets.
Every two years as a baseline, and immediately on any of the triggers: new premises, a new business partner, your first employee, a significant loan, or a personal guarantee you are asked to sign.
Speak to an accountant
Free 30-minute consultation.
No obligation. We’ll review where you are and tell you what we’d do.
+61 451 114 862Book a consultationThis page is general information only. It does not take your circumstances into account. Speak to a registered tax agent before acting on anything here.
Related services
Often paired with asset protection.
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