Tax Planning

Most business owners think tax planning is a last-minute scramble in June, but by then your options are severely limited — the decisions that actually reduce your tax bill happen throughout the year. Effective tax planning starts the moment you understand your projected profit: ideally in July or August when the new financial year is fresh, and again at key milestones like a strong Q2 or before a major purchase or distribution decision.

At Pinnacle, we work with clients year-round on a rolling tax plan, not a once-a-year conversation. If you’re approaching 30 June with no plan in place, we can still help — but the earlier we start, the more levers we have to pull.

The honest answer depends on your structure, turnover, and how proactively your tax has been managed in the past. For small-to-medium businesses that have been relying on compliance-only accounting, it’s common to identify $10,000 to $50,000+ in legitimate tax savings once we look at entity structuring, timing of income and expenses, superannuation contributions, and profit-splitting strategies.

The businesses that benefit most are typically those with $500k–$5M in revenue, a mix of business and personal income, and assets or family members who could be included in a compliant income-splitting arrangement. We’ll give you a frank assessment after reviewing your numbers — not a vague promise.

A tax return is a report of what happened. Tax planning is deciding what happens. When your accountant lodges your return, they’re recording history — the income you earned, the deductions you claimed, and the tax you owe. There’s very little they can change at that point because the financial year is already closed.

Tax planning works in advance: it looks at where your business is heading, models different scenarios, and structures decisions — like how you draw income, when you invoice, how you invest in the business, or how profits are distributed — to minimise your tax before it crystallises. If your accountant only calls you at tax time, you’re likely missing out on significant savings.

Yes — and more. Depending on your situation, the strategies we explore include discretionary (family) trust distributions to lower-income beneficiaries, bucket company structures to cap tax at the 25% corporate rate, director and spouse salary optimisation, Division 7A loan structuring, timing of asset purchases and depreciation claims (particularly under the Instant Asset Write-Off), superannuation contributions (including catch-up concessional contributions), and prepaying deductible expenses before 30 June.

Every strategy we recommend is fully ATO-compliant and explained in plain English so you understand exactly what you’re doing and why. We don’t use cookie-cutter approaches — your tax plan is built around your actual structure, goals, and risk appetite.

Our approach is proactive rather than reactive. We run quarterly check-ins with business clients to review profit-to-date, model your projected year-end position, and identify any actions to take before it’s too late. We don’t wait for you to ask — if we see an opportunity or a risk, we flag it.

Clients on our ongoing advisory packages receive a mid-year tax planning meeting (typically February to April), a pre-30 June action list, and a year-end tax estimate so there are no nasty surprises when your return is lodged. We also stay across ATO rulings and budget changes that affect our clients and proactively communicate anything that impacts your planning.

That depends entirely on what your current accountant is actually doing. Many excellent accountants focus primarily on compliance — preparing returns accurately and on time — but don’t have the time or the brief to do proactive tax planning. If you’ve never had a tax planning conversation with your accountant outside of tax return season, it’s worth finding out what you might be missing.

Mina Baselyous holds both CPA and Chartered Tax Advisor (CTA) designations — the CTA is the tax specialist qualification, held by fewer than 3% of accountants in Australia. Mina is also a registered tax agent, authorised to lodge income tax returns alongside strategic planning advice. For a business turning over $500k or more, the fee for specialist tax advice typically pays for itself many times over in the first year. We offer an initial planning conversation so you can assess the value before committing.