In essence a self-managed superannuation fund is a special form of trust and satisfies general trust law as the assets of the fund are held on trust by a trustee to provide retirement or death benefits for its members, with those members being the beneficiaries.
SMSF
Can several entities jointly qualify to be a “sophisticated investor”?
A ‘sophisticated investor’ is a person certified by a “qualified accountant” to have a prescribed level of net assets or gross income.
Lost deeds can destroy the trust
Trusts are most commonly established by a deed. Those deeds contain the terms or rules the control how the trust can be used, and the rights and duties the various parties to the trust have or owe. In our experience, trust deeds are regularly misplaced and lost.
Managing an SMSF when dementia affects a member
John and Mary have an SMSF with a corporate trustee and are the current members of their SMSF. Mary is experiencing the early on-set symptoms of dementia and has an enduring power of attorney where she has appointed the NSW Trustee and Guardian to act as her attorney.
Actuarial certificate requirements burden reduced slightly
The compliance and cost burden for SMSFs which are entirely in retirement phase during a financial year may now be reduced as they will no longer be required to obtain an actuarial certificate to determine their “exempt current pension income”.
Has your SMSF become a Zombie?
Do you have a Self-Managed Superannuation Fund (SMSF) with a balance under $500,000, are not yet retired but some unexpected life events have halted your ability to contribute more to your SMSF?
Must SMSF BDBNs comply with the 2 witness and 3-year validity rules?
There has been a continuing legal controversy as to whether Binding Death Benefit Nominations (BDBNs) for SMSFs must, in order to be valid, comply with both the 2 independent witness rule and 3-year validity period rules (2 witness & 3-year rules).
Mutual funds – they’re on their way
As indicated in the recent May Budget, the Government has decided to re-commence the project to introduce mutual funds. The Government intends that the legislative regime permitting mutual funds will have a start date of 1 July 2022.