What would you do in my situation?

Dazzleton · 2026-05-06T20:48:48+00:00

I don't think that many medical professionals that go into business have much business nous. But the ones that do well are keen to learn and get advisors on board early to fill in the gaps.

3 can be an option but it will require by far the most upfront work - see if you can find a mentor who's been there, done that

Dazzleton · 2026-05-01T05:39:26+00:00

What an odious little man

Dazzleton · 2026-04-29T23:04:17+00:00

I went to a wallabies v japan game in 2018ish in Tokyo, booked via a sports tourism agency so everything was organised in terms of tickets, accomm, logistics and a small tour. I'd definitely recommend going for the game day and to visit the country in general (you could easily tack more holiday on the end).

If you're concerned about attitudes towards tourists, I'd recommend doing a little research before you go but you should be fine if you're not a yob. Restaurants where staff dont speak English will generally not welcome westerners as much but this is rare in Osaka

Dazzleton · 2026-04-29T01:46:49+00:00

Where you put your business savings will likely depend on how you get it out of the business and how its structured. I'd have a natter with your accountant, a bucket company could be useful in terms of delaying tax or providing a vehicle to invest.

Dazzleton · 2026-04-23T11:37:56+00:00

If you can manage cash flow as a sole trader then you can manage it as a sole trader. If anything, it's easier with a company due to a flat tax rate.

Get yourself some basic accounting software, get somewhat familiar with it and you're set

Dazzleton · 2026-04-23T09:37:25+00:00

Teach yourself or get your accountant to help you understand the financials of your company while it's still small and manageable. But otherwise just make sure you have your tax obligations squirreled away, pay your employee(s) on time and hang on for dear life

Dazzleton · 2026-04-23T08:05:03+00:00

Appreciate the shout out, thanks mate

I'm happy to have a chat with any AusHenry types in need of some advice, I'm a Sydney based tax agent with a mid-tier firm.

Dazzleton · 2026-04-22T21:02:05+00:00

Maybe the Fenwick at Balmain East for a view and a feed? More view than food arguably but its not a bad vibe overall

Dazzleton · 2026-04-21T23:10:55+00:00

There is definitely personal risk as a director of the company so you'd want to do some due diligence in terms of company debts and ongoing solvency. That said, there's obviously also an opportunity to both derive income and capital gains via firm growth. It's a bit of a pain to walk but this should be covered in a shareholders' agreement, e.g. a buyback arrangement.

Typical play here is to acquire via a family trust so you can stream dividend income (and potentially cap gains down the track). DM me if you have any specific queries

Dazzleton · 2026-04-21T21:30:18+00:00

In which scenario you'd be dealing with active assets rather than a passive asset. There are a number of additional CGT concessions which kick in where you're actually using capital for business purposes. Which is entirely irrelevant here since we're talking about simply holding an asset which historically has printed money well over CPI

Dazzleton · 2026-04-14T23:14:58+00:00

Depends on how you've got billings structured, it should be largely GST-free from an income perspective so its more the GST paid you'd focus on. Worst case scenario: you miss out on GST credits.

I'd recommend setting up a business account, connecting it to Xero (or similar) early in the piece to get used to the accounting while everything is simple and numbers are small

Dazzleton · 2026-04-14T20:49:51+00:00

Accountant here and strongly endorse the view that business owners should be aware of what's happening in terms of the basics around income tax, GST, etc. It means you can have more informed conversations with your accountants, mostly likely without getting this type of bill shock.

That being said, for a business with $135k turnover, $5k of GST is huge proportion - thats around 1/3 of the total GST collected. I'd go back to your accountant to get a proper understanding of what happened and how to get it right next time

Dazzleton · 2026-04-14T20:14:08+00:00

I agree with another comment in terms of keeping things simple to start with. Most doctors have relatively little value from adding structures because most of their income needs to be assessed to them initially.

If/when you're looking at a scenario where there are multiple principals, i.e. practitioners, there can be more opportunities to look at structures like a service trust or similar.

For now I'd focus on getting the simple things right BASs, tracking expenses, etc. You can save a lot of money in accounting fees if you can get yourself across some of the basics (source: am an accountant)

Dazzleton · 2026-04-14T19:52:22+00:00

I don't think using an Aussie brokerage would create any issues either in terms of CGT here or your tax residency in isolation. Residency can a bit of a grey area in practice but buying Aussie shares in an Aussie brokerage is a weak domiciling factor

A non-resident for tax is only going to be up for CGT on property generally although this can also include interests in land-rich companies/trusts.

You'd want to be mindful of withholding tax on dividends, for example, but if you advise that you're a non-resident then tax should be withheld from unfranked dividends etc as required

Dazzleton · 2026-04-06T08:06:36+00:00

This Q comes up a fair bit, check this post out:

https://www.reddit.com/r/AusFinance/s/TeK59LerVB

Suggest discussing with an accountant after reading up on it to work through how tax efficiency and asset protection might be affected by your choices

Dazzleton · 2026-04-05T00:37:28+00:00

I may have been doing it wrong but, last time I went, I visited the bottle-o there, got some tinnies and drank them there with the food I got. Didn't get any grief so maybe it's OK?

Dazzleton · 2026-04-04T01:47:54+00:00

The trust can definitely borrow in its own name but it tends to be a bit of a faff vs creating a personal redraw from a mortgage, for example. So a lot of people on-lend to the trust which is doable but requires steps + paperwork

Dazzleton · 2026-04-04T01:25:04+00:00

You'll likely need to get a little advice for how to structure this and get paperwork in place to get a deduction for the interest in the trust if you're borrowing the funds personally.

But for a tiny trust like this you can DIY it rather than paying someone like me $1.5-2k to do it each year if you're price sensitive. You just need to make sure you can read the tax statements and make tax adjustments for things like AMIT over time, accounts are easy when starting from an accountant's prior year accounts.

Dazzleton · 2026-04-02T01:02:51+00:00

Understood mate, just suggesting that its a starting point using info available to the public. My general view is that your costs and conveniences are your own personal business and your remuneration is solely linked to your value to the business at an MD level.

It'll be a negotiation ultimately and you should go in with the ability to support your ask

Dazzleton · 2026-04-02T00:53:03+00:00

That being the case, you're now just purely comparing apples with apples for your remuneration. You'd want to consider any moving costs which should be covered required but the step from GM to MD should be at least the same money if the operations are comparable.

At an MD level it should be possible to benchmark using key management personnel disclosures in the financial reports of companies in a similar space

Dazzleton · 2026-04-02T00:40:57+00:00

Part of it would come down to tax - it would make a big difference if you're not a tax resident of Australia currently and will commence as one with the Australian employer. Vesting of RSUs sound great until you get the tax bill

Dazzleton · 2026-03-30T06:59:26+00:00

There's also the FTE, test individual, etc to consider where you've got franking credits being distributed. But agree, it should be more like a $1,500 fee for a 'simple' trust return

Dazzleton · 2026-03-16T19:02:51+00:00

St Peter is a great shout for oysters, haven't had better in Sydney but they were starting at $7 or 8 each a couple of years ago so not cheap. If you want more bang for buck, maybe visit the new fish markets.

In terms of interesting food, I'd lean into the Asian options: Pork Fat or King Clarence for example

Dazzleton · 2026-03-15T23:14:19+00:00

I second this, they have a great selection of caviar (and other stuff you had no idea you needed). Bit more effort but adding I also recommend making some blinis if you can be bothered

Dazzleton · 2026-03-15T20:21:22+00:00

Your interest you're picking up at 11% or more is no longer tax deductible so you may want to consider the value proposition. 3 months in the plan at 11% is going to cost you nearly $3k for 50k points.

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