Minimum tax on discretionary trusts – exposure draft legislation
30 September 2026
On 22 September 2026, the Law Council provided a submission to respond to the Treasury’s exposure draft legislation concerning the proposed minimum tax on discretionary trusts.
The submission was informed by input from the Law Institute of Victoria, the Law Society of New South Wales, and the Queensland Law Society. It also attaches two separate comprehensive submissions prepared by the Taxation Committee of the Law Council’s Business Law Section and the National Elder Law and Succession Law Committee. The separate submissions are reproduced in full at Attachments 1 and 2 and address the exposure draft legislation in detail from each Committee’s respective areas of expertise. A common theme throughout the submission is that the legislation is not yet ready for introduction, and more thorough consultation is required.
The Law Council submission acknowledges that the exposure draft legislation addresses some of the concerns raised in our previous submissions in response to Treasury’s Consultation Paper on this topic in July and August 2026, in particular, through a revised fixed trusts definition, the introduction of the electable regime, and the refundability of excess franking credits.
However, in our view, significant technical concerns and potential unintended consequences remain. The submission raised particular concern with the truncated consultation period, especially considering the significance and technical complexity of the proposed reforms. A longer consultation period would have better enabled the Law Council to engage more thoroughly with the reform measures, and where possible, consolidate the extensive responses from the legal profession into a single, fully integrated submission.
The Law Council would welcome opportunities to engage in further processes as the legislation is developed.
Last Updated on 30/09/2026