Usually share markets are relatively calm and so don’t generate a lot of attention. But periodically they tumble and generate headlines like “billions wiped off share market” and “biggest share plunge since…” Sometimes it ends quickly and the market heads back up again and is forgotten about. But once every so often share markets keep falling for a while. Sometimes the falls are foreseeable (usually after a run of strong gains), but rarely are they forecastable.

Section 100A of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 was introduced in 1978 to deal with an egregious practice known as “trust stripping”.  That typically involved a trust’s profits being stripped out, tax-free, by paying them to a tax-exempt or loss entity, then being re-settled on the real, intended, beneficiaries.

Company directors are now required to verify their identity by applying for a new director identification number (DIN).

This includes directors of an SMSF corporate trustee, family trust and directors acting in the capacity of an alternate director, even if they are appointed for a specified period or a temporary basis.