Yesterday, Treasury released exposure draft regulations to allow people to exit certain legacy pensions. This expands on and supports implementation of the 2021–22 Budget measure to allow exiting certain legacy retirement products. For some this will be highly welcome news! In the next SMSF Online Update, Bryce Figot will unpack these regulations in detail, discussing: [read more]
As a lawyer, I do a substantial amount of work advising and representing approved SMSF auditors who are being audited/reviewed by the ATO and/or who have been referred to ASIC. Accordingly, I paid considerable attention to certain new statistics that the ATO released recently regarding ‘SMSF auditor case outcomes 2023–24. ATO referrals to ASIC are [read more]
The short answer is ‘an’ SMSF. The medium answer is that it probably does not really matter, because whichever you use, your reader will almost certainly understand you. However, there is a longer and, we dare say, more fascinating answer. The rule that most of us would recall from school is that we should use [read more]
As a lawyer, I do a lot of work advising and representing approved SMSF auditors who are being audited/reviewed by the ATO and/or who have been referred to ASIC. In September, I will present on this topic at the SMSF Association’s ‘SMSF Audit Day’. More specifically, I will present a topic titled ‘Facing the Regulators: [read more]
Historically, deeds were required to be written on paper (or parchment or vellum), as well as being signed, sealed and delivered. Recently, however, there have been numerous legislative developments that allow for deeds to be executed electronically, subject to certain requirements. These requirements differ depending on the Australian state/territory’s laws the deed is subject to. [read more]
A recent Federal Court decision has held that a transfer of units in a unit trust to an SMSF was void pursuant to s 128B of the Bankruptcy Act 1966 (Cth) (BA). The decision of Ruhe (Trustee) v Rodmarg Pty Ltd, in the matter of Bankrupt estates of Power [2024] FCA 638 demonstrates the circumstances [read more]
A recent AAT decision demonstrates circumstances of a successful challenge to a disqualification made pursuant to s 126A of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (Cth) (SISA). The decision of Merchant v Commissioner of Taxation [2024] AATA 1102 also highlights the dangers of what may, at face value, seem like ordinary investments such as acquiring [read more]
Overview The taxation of trusts continues to be an area of scrutiny for the ATO. The ATO has released a webpage titled ‘Trust distributions done right’ that provides guidance to practitioners on how to prepare for year-end trust distributions. The webpage (QC 101752) can be found here. Clearly, the ATO is concerned with trustees and [read more]
Short answer The short answer is that clients should conduct detailed financial modelling and make an objective decision based on the numbers after examining their available options having regard to their particular factual circumstances. Generally, clients should not act hastily and should be better positioned to make a more informed decision closer to 30 June [read more]
The ATO has a program of auditing or reviewing certain approved SMSF auditors. If the ATO is satisfied with what they see, they can simply close their file. However, if the ATO is not satisfied, they have various options, including referring the approved SMSF auditor to ASIC. At the ASIC stage, ASIC then has various [read more]
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