The concept of a “going concern” exemption for the purposes of the goods and services tax (GST) can still cause confusion when businesses are sold.

The sale of a business may be GST exempt if the enterprise is deemed to be a “going concern” — which refers to an enterprise’s ability to continue trading. The ATO says a supply of a going concern occurs when:

The days of a lax approach to valuations are over. While there is not always the need to employ a qualified independent valuer for each valuation, there are important circumstances where it is mandated, and others where it is recommended. Where one is not used then appropriate documentation needs to be kept of how valuations were determined. Back of the envelope or simply made-up valuations will not suffice.

It may seem fairly obvious whether a person is in business or not, but the distinction can be important for other reasons. Your client may be having fun AND making money. But is it a business or a hobby?

For example, if you are not carrying on a business, the option to deduct losses from other income is lost. So it’s important to establish, from a tax obligation point of view, that your “activity” is more than a hobby, and is, in fact, a bona fide business. Losses from hobbies (including most party plan ventures, such as Tupperware parties) are not deductible against other income.

Trusts are an important and very useful concept for managing one’s financial affairs, as well as estate planning.

A trust is established whenever there is a separation of the legal ownership (for example, the name appearing on a land title) from the beneficial (equitable) owner of an asset (in other words, the person that a court would deem to be the true owner).