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Choose the right structure for a new venture

We tell you which structure fits your venture, and why, before you commit to one.

You choose a structure once, early, usually in a hurry, and then run the business inside it for a decade. It decides who is personally on the hook if things go badly, how the profit is taxed on the way through, whether your house sits behind the business or beside it, and how hard it will be to let somebody else in later. Most people pick it from what a friend did or from what was cheapest to register. Changing it afterwards is possible, but it costs several times what the advice would have, and the bill tends to arrive mid-transaction, at the worst possible moment.

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A recommendation, not a menu

You get one answer with the reasoning behind it, instead of a comparison table you still have to interpret.

The line between you and the business

You find out what is exposed if the venture goes badly, while nothing is yet at stake.

Room to grow into

The structure is chosen for the partner or investor you might bring in later, not only for today.

What actually turns on the structure you choose?

Australian businesses run through four basic vehicles and combinations of them: sole trader, partnership, company, and trust, most often a discretionary trust with a company as trustee. Each answers four questions differently. Who is liable for the debts. Who pays tax on the profit, and at what rate. Whether the business assets can be reached by a creditor of the owner. And how easily a new owner, investor or successor can be brought in. Which of those four matters most in your situation is what decides the answer, and it is why a structure that is obviously right for one business is obviously wrong for the next.

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Which structures can I actually choose from?

Sole trader, partnership, company and trust, and combinations of them. A very common arrangement is a discretionary trust with a company acting as trustee, which separates who controls the business from who benefits from it. Each option answers liability, tax, asset protection and future ownership differently, so the right one depends on which of those matters most to you.

Does the structure change how much tax I pay?

Yes, materially. A company pays tax at a flat corporate rate. A trust distributes income to beneficiaries who are each taxed at their own rate, which gives flexibility as circumstances change. A sole trader or partner pays tax on business income as personal income. The difference compounds, which is why it is worth deciding deliberately rather than by default.

Can I change structure later?

You can, and rollovers exist that reduce the tax cost of doing it. What they do not reduce is the time, the legal and accounting fees, and the disruption, and a restructure usually becomes urgent at exactly the moment you are busy with something else. It is cheaper by a wide margin to choose well at the start.

Do I really need a company, or is sole trader fine?

Sole trader is genuinely fine for some businesses, particularly low-risk ones with a single owner and no plans to bring anyone in. It is the simplest and cheapest to run. What it does not do is put any distance between the business and everything you own personally. Whether that matters depends on the risk in what you are doing, which is the first thing we look at.

Get the advice before you register anything

Tell us what the venture does, who is involved, and what you expect it to look like in five years. We will set out the options that genuinely fit, tell you what each one protects and what it costs you, and give you a recommendation in writing.

You only get to make this decision cheaply once

You know the structure matters and you cannot tell which one you need, because the advice available to you is generic and your situation is not. The harder part is that you do not yet know which questions decide it: whether a partner is coming, whether the assets need separating from the trading risk, whether you are likely to sell. So the decision gets made on price, or on what somebody else did, and it quietly sets the terms for everything that follows.

We will take instructions on the venture, the people in it, and what you expect it to become.
We will compare the structures that genuinely fit against liability, tax, asset protection and future ownership.
We will give you a written recommendation with the reasoning behind it.
We will tell you when the simplest structure is the right one.
We will form the structure for you if you decide to proceed.

You are about to start and the structure is the last thing in the way

The idea is settled, the first customers are close, and somebody has asked what entity goes on the invoice. You have heard that a company protects you and that a trust is better for tax, and you have also heard the opposite. There may be a business partner involved, or there may be one within two years. What you want is for somebody to look at your actual circumstances and tell you which structure to use, rather than hand you a comparison table you still have to interpret.

What's included in your business structure advice service

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A structure analysis against your actual circumstances.
Liability and asset protection assessment.
Tax treatment compared across the realistic options.
A written recommendation you can act on and refer back to.
Formation of the chosen structure if you want us to build it.

What the wrong structure costs later

A bad structure is invisible on the day it is chosen and obvious years later. A sole trader whose business fails loses the house along with it, because there was never a line between the two. An operating company holding the goodwill and the equipment in the same entity cannot sell one without exposing the other. A constitution that cannot issue a second class of shares means the investor who wanted in has to be accommodated some other way, usually a worse one.

By the time any of that surfaces the business has grown and the fix has grown with it. Restructuring is possible, and there are rollovers that make it cheaper, but it takes months, it needs your lawyer and your accountant working together, and it nearly always lands in the middle of the transaction that exposed the problem. The advice that would have prevented it costs a fraction of that and takes an afternoon.

From four options to one recommendation

We start with the venture rather than the entities. What it does, what could go wrong inside it, who is in it now, who might be later, what you own personally, and whether there is an exit somewhere in your head. Those answers narrow four structures to one or two very quickly, which is exactly why generic comparisons are so unhelpful.

Then we set out what each realistic option does to your liability, your tax, your asset protection and your ability to bring somebody in, in your circumstances rather than in the abstract. You get a recommendation in writing with the reasoning attached, so you can act on it now and still understand it in three years when something changes. If you want us to build it, we do that too.

How we get you to a decision

From four options to one, with the reasoning in writing.

Understand the venture

We take instructions on what the business does, who is involved, what you own personally, and where you expect it to go.

Compare the options

We test the structures that genuinely fit against liability, tax, asset protection and your ability to bring somebody in later.

Recommend and document

We give you a written recommendation with the reasoning, and form the structure for you if you want to proceed.

Structure advice from Accredited Specialists in Business Law

Starting something carries enough uncertainty without the nagging sense that you have already made a decision you do not understand. Most people ask about structure last, when it is the thing that should be settled first.

We have 2 Accredited Specialists in Business Law, and we advise on structures across the whole range, from a single-person company through to groups running a trust, an operating entity and a separate asset holder. We will also tell you when the simple answer is the right one, rather than selling you complexity you do not need.

Our great lawyer guarantee

Six principles we hold to, whatever you bring us and however long it takes.

Take the time

We listen carefully to understand what you want to achieve, then step you through the advice and the documents.

Share our knowledge

We pass on as much as we can, so you can make your own informed decisions.

Stick to our knitting

We only do what we are good at, so you never pay for our learning.

Work as one team

Someone is always available to answer your question or point you the right way.

Fair pricing

A fixed or capped quote for advice and documents, so you do not carry the price risk.

It is your show

We are in it for a front row seat to witness your success, not for our egos.

Settle the structure before you start

Tell us what the venture does and who is in it. We will tell you which structure fits, what it protects, what it costs you in tax, and why, in writing and before you register anything.

Speak to a lawyer 1300 654 590