Trust or Company vs Your Own Name: Property Ownership After the 2026–27 Budget

Why investors reach for a trust or company

The reasons usually cited are separation of the asset from the individual, flexibility in how income is dealt with, and succession planning. None of those reasons are wrong in principle, but none are automatic wins either. Entity ownership adds setup and ongoing administration, adds compliance obligations, and changes how the property's income, losses and eventual capital gain are taxed — in ways that depend heavily on individual circumstances.

The useful question is never whether a trust is better in the abstract. It is whether the specific benefit being sought survives the specific tax treatment that will apply. That second question belongs with an accountant, not a calculator.

The 30% minimum tax on trust distributions from 1 July 2028

The 2026–27 Federal Budget introduced a 30 per cent minimum tax applying to trust distributions from 1 July 2028. For property held in a discretionary trust, that puts a floor under distributed income — and it means one of the traditional attractions of trusts, flexibility in how distributions are handled, now operates against that floor.

Any long-hold model that runs past 1 July 2028 should be tested against this change with an accountant. It is exactly the kind of measure that quietly rewrites decade-old rules of thumb about structuring.

Buying in your own name after the 2026–27 Budget

Own-name ownership is where the Budget's negative gearing changes bite directly. For properties purchased or contracted from 12 May 2026, rental losses are deductible against salary and other income only for new builds. Established properties bought after that date have their losses quarantined — carried forward against future rental profits or the eventual capital gain, not against salary. Properties owned or contracted before 12 May 2026 are grandfathered under the old rules.

On the way out, the treatment changes too. From 1 July 2027 the flat 50 per cent CGT discount is replaced by indexation-based treatment with an effective minimum of 30 per cent; new builds retain concessional treatment and grandfathered holdings keep the old rules. And a principal place of residence remains generally exempt from both land tax and CGT — the baseline any structure has to be compared against.

Why Plintha models entity-held property pre-tax

Plintha deliberately does not model entity income tax for SMSF, company or trust ownership. It shows the pre-tax position and refers the entity tax layer to your accountant, because that layer turns on facts about your affairs that no calculator can see.

What the analysis does compute is the pre-tax base every structure conversation starts from: stamp duty computed exactly for all eight states and territories and verified against each revenue office; land tax bracket maths exact, with land value estimated at roughly 60 per cent of price for a house when unknown and flagged [ESTIMATE]; and the standard stress test on every analysis — interest rates 2 per cent higher, extended vacancy, and an interest-only expiry flipping to principal-and-interest. Every figure carries provenance: computed, [ESTIMATE], or [ASSUMED] and overridable.

The analysis also classifies the property as grandfathered, new build, or established post-budget, because that class changes the tax modelling — and it is the first thing your accountant will ask.

What to take to your accountant

A structure conversation goes faster when the property-level facts are already settled. From a Plintha analysis, that means:

• —The property's class — grandfathered, new build, or established post-budget — which drives both the negative gearing and CGT treatment under the 2026–27 Budget.
• —The pre-tax cashflow position, including how it holds up under the stress test.
• —Whether the 30 per cent minimum tax on trust distributions from 1 July 2028 changes the case for a trust over the intended holding period.
• —Whether the structure's non-tax benefits, such as separation and succession, still justify its running costs.
• —The land tax position — generally deductible on an investment property, with brackets that are state-specific.

Common questions