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Tax
Tax Planning
Your tax return looks backward at a year that’s already over. Tax planning looks forward.
It means deciding ahead of time how your income lands, when to bring a deduction forward or push it back, and which strategies to use before 30 June, not after. For tech professionals, it matters most around one known date: a vest date or a big bonus. Plan for it and the outcome is manageable. React to it and it’s often an expensive surprise.
RSUs and ESS
Managing Tax on RSUs and Employee Share Schemes
RSUs and other employee share scheme awards aren’t taxed like your payslip. The timing catches a lot of people out.
Under the ATO’s employee share scheme rules, you generally aren’t taxed when the shares are granted. You’re taxed at the deferred taxing point. For most RSU plans, that’s the vesting date. The market value of the shares on that day is generally treated as assessable income, whether you sell them or not. How the ATO defines the deferred taxing point.
That creates the problem I see all the time. The tax bill can arrive before you have the cash to pay it.
The common fix is sell to cover. You sell part of the newly vested shares to fund the tax, then decide what to do with the rest separately. This isn’t advice on any specific holding. It’s a mechanism you want to understand well before your vest date, not on the day.
Your vest date is a tax date
Questions to answer before it arrives:
- How much tax will this vest trigger?
- Where is the cash coming from?
- Will I sell to cover, or fund it another way?
- What happens to the shares I keep?
Sell within 30 days of the taxing point and the taxing point generally moves to the sale date. Small details like that change the numbers.
What to Do With Vested RSUs
Once your shares vest, you have three choices: hold, sell, or diversify gradually. There’s no single right answer. It depends on how much you believe in the company, how concentrated the rest of your portfolio already is, and what else is happening for you financially that year.
Make that decision before the vest, not on the day. That’s usually where the better outcomes come from.
This page only covers the basics. For the full walkthrough, how vesting is taxed step by step, what a real tax bill looks like and how to fund it without the stress, get my free RSU Playbook. More on my RSU Advice page.
Beyond RSUs
The Core Strategies We Look At
None of these are exotic. The value comes from using the right ones at the right time, not from finding a secret loophole.
Superannuation Contributions
One of the simplest ways to cut taxable income while building wealth. Contributions inside the cap are taxed at 15%, not your marginal rate. If your income spikes from a bonus or a vest, this is often the first lever I check.
Trust and Company Structures
For business owners and more complex positions, a trust or company can support income splitting and asset protection. They aren’t right for everyone. The setup and running costs have to be worth it.
Salary Packaging and Income Timing
When you receive income and when you claim deductions can shift your tax across financial years. That includes when you exercise or sell vested equity. Same financial position, different tax outcome.
Capital Gains Timing
Realise a gain or a loss on purpose, not whenever it happens to suit. On vested shares and other investments, this is one of the most overlooked levers you have.
I cover all 7 strategies in detail in my guide to reducing tax for high income earners, and in this video.
Timing
Planning Ahead of the Financial Year
Good tax planning happens well before June. Not in the last week of it.
Extra super contributions, restructuring an investment, changing your salary packaging: they all take time to put in place. Rushing them at the last minute rarely gets the best result.
It matters even more when you already know a bonus or a vest date is coming. That visibility is a head start. It disappears the longer you wait. A short conversation a few months out is usually enough to get the right structure in place before the date arrives.
How I like to run the year
| July to December | Plan. Map your vest dates, bonus and caps. |
| January to April | Put the strategy in place. |
| May and June | Check, top up, confirm. |
| Last week of June | Too late for most of it. |
Your accountant
How This Fits With Your Accountant
I don’t replace your accountant. I work alongside them.
Your accountant
- Compliance and lodgement
- Your annual return
- The paperwork and ATO correspondence
- Reports on what already happened
Tax planning with me
- The strategic decisions, made months earlier
- Shapes what ends up on that return
- Planned around your vest dates and bonus
- Part of your bigger retirement plan
Most of my clients keep their accountant and simply add tax planning on top. Where it helps, I work with your accountant directly and share the numbers and strategy, so nothing is duplicated and there’s no conflicting advice.
Client example
Seeing This in Practice
A Sales Director, early 50s, at a US listed tech company in Sydney. A $250K base, $250K to $550K in commission, $1M in shares and $900K in super. Great income, a big tax bill every vest, and no clear retirement date.
We brought his RSUs, debt recycling and tax planning into one plan instead of three separate problems: a quarterly RSU sell down matched to his vest dates, a $1 million investment line of credit against his home equity, super contributions for both partners, and a testamentary trust for the kids.
See the full case study → or browse all case studies.
The result
$20K
/ month
A clear path to passive income in retirement, sooner than he expected.
Results depend on your circumstances. Details changed for privacy.
83 LinkedIn recommendations
What clients say on LinkedIn.
Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
How are RSUs taxed when they vest in Australia?
Under the ATO’s employee share scheme rules, the market value of your shares is generally treated as assessable income at the vesting date, not when they were granted. It’s the most misunderstood part of equity compensation. My RSU Playbook walks through the full mechanics.
How do I fund a large tax bill from an RSU vesting event?
The common options are selling part of the vested shares to cover the tax (sell to cover), using existing cash flow, or planning ahead with other strategies well before the vest. The right one depends on your circumstances. That’s worth a proper conversation, not a guess from general information.
What’s the difference between a tax planner and an accountant?
An accountant generally handles compliance and lodgement. They prepare and file what already happened. Tax planning looks forward. It’s the decisions made ahead of time that shape what your accountant later reports.
Are tax planning strategies legal?
Yes, when they’re done properly. Legitimate tax minimisation and tax evasion are not the same thing. Every strategy I use relies on structures and provisions the ATO permits, applied within the rules, not around them. A strategy also has to make sense for reasons beyond the tax saving.
What are the best tax planning strategies for high income earners?
It depends on your income, structure and goals. Common starting points are maximising concessional super contributions, checking whether a trust or company structure suits you, and timing capital gains carefully. My guide for high income earners covers 7 strategies in detail.
When should I start tax planning for the financial year?
Well before June. Most strategies need time to put in place. Start in the first half of the financial year and you have room to act properly.
Do I still need tax planning if I already have an accountant?
Yes. The two roles work together. Your accountant reports on what already happened. Tax planning shapes what happens in the first place. Most of my clients keep both.
Plan before the date, not after
Ready to put a proactive tax strategy in place?
15 minutes. No cost, no obligation.
