Many have wanted to pay superannuation benefits — particularly death benefits — by way of mere journal entry. The ATO have clarified their position in this regard by publishing two interpretive decisions on Friday, namely, ATO Interpretive Decision ATO ID 2015/2 and ATO Interpretive Decision ATO ID 2015/3. The facts Each of ATO ID 2015/2 [read more]
Treasury released draft legislation today that will impact limited recourse borrowing arrangements. We consider the major changes for SMSFs and limited recourse borrowing arrangements. Background Naturally, in order for a trustee of a superannuation fund to be allowed to borrow, the asset must be held on trust for the trustee of the superannuation fund. To [read more]
Generally, a pension must be paid in cash. However, not every SMSF has ready cash to satisfy the minimum. Thus, it provides much needed flexibility when a pension can be satisfied in kind, eg, by way of an off-market transfer of listed securities, to ensure the pension exemption can continue and the minimum annual payment [read more]
I will be once again returning to the University of Melbourne to impart some of the knowledge I have gained in the 30+ years working in the fields of superannuation and tax. Having presented at the University of Melbourne previously, it is great to have the chance to go back and present on how the [read more]
Two ATO Interpretive Decisions (ie, ATO ID 2014/39 and ATO ID 2014/40 both published on 12 December 2014) address the question: Will ordinary or statutory income derived by an SMSF under a limited recourse borrowing arrangement (‘LRBA’) be non-arm’s length income (‘NALI’) of the fund pursuant to s 295-550 of the Income Tax Act Assessment [read more]
ATO Interpretive Decision 2014/22 addresses the question: ‘Can an adult child be a ‘death benefits dependant’ of his or her deceased parent for the purposes of section 302-195 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (Cth)?’ The adult child was considered to be a death benefits dependant for the purposes of this section. Tax definition [read more]
True to its word, on 10 October 2014 the Government introduced draft legislation, which proposes practical and long-awaited changes to the treatment of excess non-concessional contributions (‘NCCs’). This article outlines the tips and traps associated with the proposed changes. Details of the draft legislation The draft legislation takes the form of the Tax and Superannuation [read more]
The ATO in SMSFD 2013/2 confirmed that an account-based pension can be partially commuted to a lump sum to enable a member to take advantage of their low rate cap. (The low rate cap for the 2014/15 financial year is $185,000). However, the ATO in paragraph 11 [read more]
The recently released ATO taxpayer alert TA 2014/1 spells good news for SMSFs! It should serve to remind us of a special exception that differentiates SMSFs from other types of trusts … and how this can save SMSFs extra tax in addition to the usual tax concessions that SMSFs are used to. What taxpayer alert [read more]
The ATO has released taxpayer alert TA 2014/1. It describes trusts that engage in property development and questions whether the proceeds are on capital account or rather on revenue account. However, there is something that the taxpayer alert does not state: the alert broadly has no application for an SMSF! Consider an SMSF that runs [read more]
