ATO plays hard with late lodging SMSFs

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It seems that the ATO will change the status of SMSFs which fail to lodge their SMSF annual returns by the due date (subject to a 2-week grace period) from “complying” to “regulation details removed”.  This will effectively be social exclusion for those SMSFs. Whilst this change does not alter the complying fund status of

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11 Oct 2019

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ATO – Key superannuation thresholds for 2019/20

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The ATO has released some of the key super thresholds for the 2019/20 financial year. Transfer Balance Cap This cap is $1,600,000 and is unchanged from the 2018/19 financial year. The transfer balance cap is the maximum amount of super capital which a taxpayer can transfer during their lifetime into retirement phase and thereby benefit

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15 Apr 2019

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Jumbo SMSFs and individual trustees

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While the Morrison Government is proceeding with its proposal to permit Jumbo SMSFs with 5 or 6 members, will Jumbo SMSFs have to have a company as trustee? This answer is determined by the legislation of the state or territory which applies to the SMSF. In summary, some jurisdictions do permit having 4 or 5

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03 Apr 2019

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SMSFs: Untouched by Hayne; Jumbo size; Unwinding LRBAs

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SMSFs suffer no pain from Hayne Two key issues on Superannuation from the Hayne Royal Commission were Agency Conflict and Invisibility of Fees (especially for no service). These two issues could be summarised as essentially poor and conflicted governance. These structural issues are not present in SMSFs – as, in general, members and the controllers

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15 Mar 2019

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What is collaborative intergenerational estate planning?

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Example 1: Planning while family is able to decide It’s estate planning which involves thinking outside the immediate family unit and looking at future generations. A key issue is in protecting assets for generations from creditors and unexpected financial threats. Let’s say you’re a medical doctor in sole practice, so you’ve been very careful over

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11 Mar 2019

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Avoid surprises after divorce with a family provision waiver

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It might come as a surprise to learn that a former spouse, or a spouse from whom you have separated, can still make a claim on a deceased estate even though the estate has been left to children or someone else in your Will. In a NSW Supreme Court decision in 2012, the Court ordered

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21 Feb 2019

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A Will should be updated or reviewed every 3 years

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Marie had two daughters. Before his death her husband gave the majority of his estate to the elder daughter on the understanding that Marie would eventually give the family home to the younger daughter. Marie saw her solicitor and arranged for her Will to be drafted that way. When she died the bad news for the

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18 Feb 2019

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Excess transfer balance determinations now being issued by ATO

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The ATO determines whether a taxpayer has exceeded the transfer balance limit of $1.6m and if a taxpayer has exceeded the $1.6m limit, the ATO must issue an excess transfer balance determination (ETB determination) to the taxpayer. An ETB determination means the taxpayer has too much super in pension phase. The ETB determination will specify

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25 Sep 2018

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SUPERCentral announces launch of estate planning tool Ask.Will™

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SUPERCentral has announced it would be launching a first-to-market, estate planning tool, Ask.Will™ Ask.Will is a new client support service that helps Advisors to open estate planning discussions with their client, through a simplified process that provides clear directions on the key areas that a client needs to consider in the development of an effective

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27 Aug 2018

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10 ways to protect your SMSF from loss of mental capacity

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If you have a self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF), you need to plan ahead to ensure that it can still keep going if you lost mental capacity due to dementia (or other reasons such as suffering a stroke). Otherwise the fund’s assets and operations could be frozen, resulting in losses from being unable to buy or

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12 Jul 2018

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