I trade shares in a Pty Ltd company and declare the company a trader not an investor, this way the profit comes in as income ont capital gain, the reason I do this is simple. The accumulated profits can sit in a company and be taxed at 30% ,soon dropping to 27 or 25% i think). when the profits are distributed to the shareholder or holders, at a time of their choosing and an amount of their choosing, then the tax already paid is a credit against your tax payable from your personal income , if any , other wise the distribution is taxed at the normal tax rate and the dividend imputation credit is deducted. you can control the whole deal timing wise, Pty ltd compnaies are fairly simple to set up and run accounting wise, it can even be done manually, shock horror.
The complication using a trust of any sort in the any income has to be distributed in the year its earnt to the beneficaries , this can be a headache if you have no low income beneficaries and also this income is technically theirs. this can create issues if distributions are to children etc.
Plus trusts are more expensive to operate, accountants love them, three returns , one for the trust , one for the coporate trustee and one for the individual. I don't run my system as capital gains , its creates too much work .
