Prohibition on borrowing and charging It is well known that SMSF trustees are generally prohibited from borrowing. One exception to this prohibition is where the borrowing complies with the requirements under s 67A of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (Cth), otherwise known as a limited recourse borrowing arrangement (LRBA). An SMSF trustee is also [read more]
Unrealised capital gains Taxation of unrealised capital gains has been contentiously debated amongst OECD countries. Australia appears set to join the ranks of Norway and Switzerland with the Labor Government seeking to pass legislation that effectively taxes unrealised capital gains. This will be a major step in tax law in Australia and may result in [read more]
The ATO estimates that around $5.2 billion in superannuation guarantee (SG) contributions for the FY2021–22 was not paid on time. This is a major reason why the government wants to introduce Payday Super (PDS). Thus, on 14 March 2025, the draft legislation to introduce the PDS regime, due to commence from 1 July 2026, was released [read more]
DBA Lawyers is pleased to announce our new suite of legacy pension commutation documents. Pursuant to the amnesty provisions, these documents allow for a member to fully commute the following types of legacy pensions within the prescribed 5-year amnesty period (7 December 2024 – 6 December 2029): a complying lifetime pension (CLP) (ie, a pension [read more]
We all know that, since 2007, new SMSF trustees/directors have to sign a trustee declaration pursuant to s 104A of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (Cth). However, how long must the declarations be retained for? Do the declarations only need to be retained for 10 years? Also, what to do if the declarations are [read more]
Victoria’s vacant residential land tax (VRLT) has undergone several changes since it was first introduced on 1 January 2018. From 1 January 2025, the VRLT went from being a flat 1% of the land’s capital improved value (CIV) to a progressive tax rate of up to 3% of CIV determined by the number of consecutive [read more]
This article provides important background context on why SMSF trustees may wish to consider using the ATO’s early engagement and voluntary disclosure service to notify the ATO regarding contraventions of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (SISA) or Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulations 1994 (SISR). As outlined in this article, there can be significant advantages to [read more]
In this article, we consider the implications for SMSFs of the recent Federal Court of Australia (Full Court) decision in Commissioner of Taxation v Bendel [2025] FCAFC 15 (Bendel). In particular, we consider Bendel’s impact for SMSFs with investments in pre-1999 unit trusts. This article contains many generalisations and simplifications. For the full text of [read more]
The ATO is a large bureaucracy and produces a lot of guidance material. Thus it is important that advisers and taxpayers understand the range of material (or products) published by the ATO and the level of protection that each provides. Generally, the ATO feels bound by its published material from an administrative viewpoint. However, only [read more]
Earlier this month, the ATO released data in a report titled ‘Self-managed super funds: A statistical overview 2022–23’ (Report). The Report shows that SMSFs continue to grow and there are many interesting statistics that can be seen. We outline some here. SMSF key numbers As at 30 June 2024: There were over 625,000 SMSFs, an increase [read more]
