Tax Masterclass Webinar Series - Cooper Grace Ward

Tax masterclass webinar series 2026

Tax and duty risk continues to evolve, and staying ahead of it starts with the right insights.

Join our industry-leading experts for a series of 6 interactive webinars, focused on the topics driving audit activity and client risk in 2026, including:

• family trust elections 
• revisiting duty fundamentals in light of 2026 federal Budget proposals 
• payroll tax: the state of play 
• back to basics: protecting your client from a future ATO audit
• directors beware: how STP and payday super are fuelling a surge in penalty notices
• 2026-27 federal Budget measures: what they mean for clients

Sessions can be booked individually or you can secure access to the full series for a discounted rate of $850 (including GST).

Webinar one: Family trust elections

There has been so much in the press recently about the serious financial impact of family trust distribution tax, which applies when entities that have made FTEs or IEEs make distributions outside of the test individual’s family group. With the ATO’s increased focus on trusts, it is essential that advisers stay on top of these issues.  

 This session will cover:

• when an FTE or IEE is required

• how to make a valid FTE or IEE

• who is part of the ‘family group’

• what ‘distributions’ are

• who is liable to pay family trust distribution tax

• how to pass control of a trust with an FTE.

Webinar two: Revisiting duty fundamentals in light of 2026 federal Budget proposals

Industry commentary on changes announced in the federal Budget has shone a light on just how interconnected our state and federal tax systems are, and that proposed changes to one taxing regime may have significant unintended consequences for another. With those current and proposed changes in mind, this session revisits the fundamentals of duty and the common dutiable transactions to be aware of, including: 

 

• the Queensland small business restructure relief exemption – when and how it operates, and when to apply it

• when transferring shares in companies gives rise to landholder duty, including grouping of related persons, deemed landholdings and the treatment of fixtures, and related trust landholdings and valuation matters

• common dutiable transactions in Queensland to consider when restructuring business or entities

• revisiting the fundamentals of dutiable value, consideration, dutiable property and lodgement requirements.

Webinar three: Payroll tax – the state of play

The past few years have seen several significant payroll tax cases work their way through the courts, alongside major changes to employment benefits legislation and how payments are made. Those changes have had real flow-on effects for payroll tax compliance and audit activity from state revenue authorities, meaning internal monitoring and management of payroll tax risks are as important as ever.

This session will cover:

• payroll tax consequences of wage, superannuation and employee benefit underpayments, including how to manage multi-jurisdictional disclosures

• contractors and relevant contracts – what they are, relevant exemptions and what it really means for services to be provided ‘in the performance of work

• grouping issues – where they still arise and how to manage them both from a structuring perspective and in dealings with the revenue agencies

• Single Touch Payroll and what it now means for payroll tax reporting

• payroll tax audits – dealing with revenue agencies and their current areas of focus.

Webinar four: Back to basics – protecting your client from a future ATO audit 

Getting the basics wrong is the surest path to a poor outcome if your client is selected for an ATO review.

 
Single Touch Payroll gives the ATO near real-time visibility over payroll, with the Full Federal Court's recent decision in Commissioner of Taxation v S.N.A Group Pty Ltd [2026] FCAFC 10 showing how easily undocumented management fees can be denied as deductions. Now is the time to revisit the fundamentals that are easy to overlook but hard to defend once an audit starts.

This session will cover:

• the importance of documentation and how to remedy the situation where none is in place

• intra-group transactions – what the SNA decision means for management fees, service fees and related party charges

• preserving interest deductibility on group finance

• superannuation guarantee traps catching businesses out

• whether a ‘business’ is genuinely being carried on and why that still matters

• private assets sitting in a company or trust, and the Division 7A and FBT risks that come with them

• the ATO's access to accounting advice and emails, and the lessons from recent cases on what privilege does (and doesn't) protect.

 

Walk away with a practical checklist to audit-proof your clients' basics before the ATO does it for them.

Webinar five: Directors beware – how STP and payday super are fuelling a surge in penalty notices 

Director penalty notices turn a company debt into a personal one, and with Single Touch Payroll and payday super giving the ATO near real-time visibility of PAYG withholding and superannuation guarantee shortfalls, more directors are receiving them than ever before. Once a notice lands, the window to act is narrow and the wrong response can lock in personal liability permanently.

This session will cover:

• how the DPN regime works

• lockdown vs non-lockdown notices – why timing of lodgement changes everything

• the 21-day period – what genuinely stops the penalty and what doesn't

• how payday super and STP are accelerating the ATO's ability to detect shortfalls and issue notices

• liability traps for new and resigning directors

• the defences available and how narrowly the courts have applied them

• practical steps to get ahead of a notice before it arrives.

This session will equip you with a clear framework for advising directors on their exposure, and a checklist to help clients avoid receiving a DPN in the first place.

Webinar six: 2026-27 federal Budget measures – what do they mean for clients?

On 12 May 2026, the Treasurer announced significant changes to the treatment of capital gains, gearing and trusts. The changes to capital gains and negative gearing are now law and will apply from 1 July 2027. Exposure draft legislation for the changes to trusts has also been released and is intended to apply from 1 July 2028. It is important that advisers understand how these new rules will operate so they can advise their clients on appropriate steps to manage these changes.

This session will cover:

• the replacement of the 50% CGT discount with cost base indexation and a new 30%minimum tax on net capital gains (from 1 July 2027)

• the extinction of pre-CGT assets (from 1 July 2027)
• changes to negative gearing for residential property acquired after 7pm on 12 May 2026
• the proposed 30% minimum tax on discretionary trust distributions from 1 July 2028
• restructuring using the proposed rollover relief and whether existing CGT relief may be a better option.

The webinars will be recorded, with a link to the recording circulated to all registrants afterwards.

We hope you are able to join us.

Linda Tapiolas

Partner

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Joanne Casburn

Special Counsel

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Tom Walrut

Special Counsel

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John Lean

Lawyer

Janice Yong

Lawyer