You must decide whether to quote your TFN to the trustee. You are not required to quote your TFN, but if you do not, the trustee must withhold from any payments from the trust to you at the top marginal rate plus the Medicare levy.
To avoid withholding you may apply for a TFN if you do not have one.
If you are required to lodge a tax return, you must include your share of the net income from a trust.
If the trustee has withheld amounts from payments to you, the only method to redeem this is to claim a credit in your tax return equal to the amount withheld. You should receive a payment summary from the trustee providing the totals of payments and any amounts withheld.
Quoting your TFN to a trustee
To quote your TFN to the trustee, you need to provide your:
- TFN
- full name
- date of birth - individuals only
- postal address
- business or residential address
- entity type
- ABN if you have one - only non-individual beneficiaries.
There is no prescribed format when providing this information. You may provide this either verbally or in writing (including an electronic format) to the trustee to meet the requirements.
Unless your details have changed, the details you provide to the trustee should be the same as what you provided to us on your most recent tax return.
This will increase the likelihood of us being able to match your TFN and other personal details to our records. It will also reduce the possibility of the trustee being notified that the TFN or other details are incorrect and that they will be required to withhold from future payments.
Last Modified: Friday, 12 October 2012