A loss attributing qualifying company (LAQC) is simply a normal company that has elected to be an LAQC.

LAQC stands for loss attributing qualifying company, which means that any losses the company makes are allocated to the individual shareholders to offset against their personal income, thus resulting in a lower tax liability or a refund of PAYE paid.

With a normal company, if the company were to make a loss, losses can only be offset against future profits. For example, if you make a loss of $10,000 then you must wait until the company has a profit of $10,000 and then you will pay no tax on the $10,000 profit.

This can be problematic for companies where it may be many years before the company is profitable and can then make use of the tax losses that it has to carry forward. Property investments are a classic example of this where a highly geared property with significant depreciation write off will have losses for quite a few years.

With an LAQC the larger income earner can own all the shares and have all the losses claimed at the higher tax rate, which may amount to many thousands of dollars in tax refunds.