Unpaid present entitlements (UPEs)

In this paper prepared for the Tax Institutes 2025 Trusts Intensive, our principal Mark West and special counsel Alex Whitney discuss the proper legal characterisation of unpaid present entitlements (UPEs) with reference to the pivotal High Court decision of Fischer v Nemeske. Also covered are tax issues associated with UPEs, including whether UPEs have a cost base, bad debt deductions and commercial debt forgiveness issues associated with forgiving UPEs, and the tax consequences more generally of assigning, discharging or forgiving UPEs (including CGT event C2). ...