Hi evanron,
I have a similar situation, I’m looking into whether I can use a registered trust, that is owned by a non registered trust. The Registered trust can trade in the public, be Gst registered, has an ABN etc, and it has to distribute income to its beneficiaries at the end of each year, but its untaxed distributions.
I think with company option paying dividends to the trust, the company must pay tax before it distributes, so you would be losing 25% corporation tax before it does its distribution to the trust.