The same profit is taxed differently depending on what holds it. This puts the three common structures side by side on figures you control.
It does not recommend one. Structure decisions turn on asset protection, succession and the cost of unwinding — none of which is arithmetic.
Compares the tax on the same profit held personally, in a company, or in a trust distributed between two adults — using the statutory scale for the individuals and a company rate you set.
Which set applies depends on the jurisdiction and the date you enter. Sources last checked 2026-08-30.
Commonwealth — Income tax
1 July 2024 to 30 June 2026
Income Tax Rates Act 1986 (Cth), Schedule 7 Part I — Resident taxpayers
Commonwealth — Income tax
1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027
Income Tax Rates Act 1986 (Cth), Schedule 7 Part I — Resident taxpayers
Commonwealth — Income tax
1 July 2027 onwards
Income Tax Rates Act 1986 (Cth), Schedule 7 Part I — Resident taxpayers
Commonwealth — Medicare levy
1 July 2026 onwards
Company tax rate
Which rate applies depends on aggregated turnover and on how much of the income is passive. A profit figure cannot establish either, so the applicable rate is entered rather than guessed.
Profit paid out of the company
Retaining profit in a company defers the top-up tax when it is eventually paid out; it does not remove it. Setting this to zero shows the deferred position, not a permanent saving.
Share distributed to a second person
In the trust scenario, how much goes to another adult beneficiary. The saving comes entirely from that person having unused lower brackets.
Cost of running the structure
Accounting, compliance and registration costs an individual does not pay. Leaving it at zero flatters both entity scenarios, and it is the reason many structures cost more than they save at modest profits.
Read the three “kept” lines together. The spread between best and worst is the honest measure of what the decision is worth, and at modest profits it is often smaller than the cost of maintaining an entity.
The company scenario shows two tax lines: the tax the entity pays and the top-up when profit is distributed. Comparing a company at zero distribution against an individual is comparing a deferral against a payment, not a saving against a cost.
The line labelled most kept is arithmetic on your assumptions and nothing more. It is deliberately not called a recommendation, because the factors that usually decide the question do not appear in this calculation at all.
Every figure below is computed by the same calculator on this page, from the inputs described. Nothing here is typed in by hand, so an example cannot disagree with the tool.
The trust splits the profit across two sets of lower brackets, which is where its advantage comes from. Note the company figure is a deferral at zero distribution rather than a settled position.
Once profit is distributed the company advantage largely disappears, and what is left is the structure cost. This is the comparison people skip when they hear the company rate quoted on its own.
A trust with one adult beneficiary is an individual with extra paperwork. The structure cost is paid and nothing is saved, which is worth seeing plainly.
The individual scenario adds the whole profit to the owner’s other income and assesses it on the statutory scale, taking the tax as the difference against an assessment without it.
The company scenario applies the rate you entered to the profit less the running cost, then assesses any distributed amount in the owner’s hands on the same statutory scale.
The trust scenario splits the profit between two adults in the proportion you set and assesses each on their own scale, against their own other income.
How every calculator on this site is built · Regulatory sources
Two adult beneficiaries
The trust scenario assumes both recipients are adults taxed on the ordinary scale. Distributions to minors are taxed at penalty rates and would change the answer completely.
No franking credits
A dividend from a company that has paid tax normally carries a credit for that tax. Not modelling it overstates the total tax in the company scenario, which is stated rather than quietly assumed.
Profit, not capital
This compares tax on annual income. What happens when the underlying asset is sold — where the discount is available to individuals and trusts but not companies — often dominates the decision and is not here.
Choosing a structure is advice
This is arithmetic. Which structure suits a business is a legal and tax question that depends on facts no calculator sees, and getting it wrong is expensive to unwind.
Anti-avoidance rules are not modelled
The personal services income rules, Division 7A loans and the general anti-avoidance provisions all constrain what a structure can actually achieve. None appears here.
Exit is not modelled
Land tax thresholds, stamp duty on transfers into a structure, and the capital gains treatment on eventual sale can each outweigh the annual difference shown.
Works out income tax and the Medicare levy on a resident individual’s taxable income, using the statutory rate scale for the income year you choose.
Works out the capital gain on an asset from its cost base, applies losses and any discount you are entitled to, and computes the tax as the difference the gain makes to your assessment on the statutory scale.
Works out interest, maturity value and effective return on a term deposit held by a business, before and after tax at the rate that applies to the entity.
This calculator can be embedded on a business website, branded to match it, with a call to action that sends the enquiry to that business rather than collecting anything here.