Overview The article focuses on the tax treatment of superannuation proceeds that are paid to a testamentary trusts and the interaction of div 6AA of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (Cth) (ITAA 1936’) which covers excepted trust income (‘ETI’). This is an important topic because unless a minor beneficiary is an excepted person or [read more]
DBA Lawyers provides the best SMSF governing rules and related documents, with numerous value-added features. This article briefly explains why our SMSF documents are the best available. Recent changes to DBA Lawyers’ SMSF governing rules Our latest DBA Lawyers’ SMSF governing rules (version 2020/21) comes with the following upgrades: enhanced binding death benefit nomination (‘BDBN’) [read more]
The Victorian Court of Appeal recently handed down Wareham v Marsella [2020] VSCA 92. This judgement represents the appeal of Marsella v Wareham (No 2) [2019] VSC 65. You can read our article about Wareham v Marsella here. Many have questioned why the outcome in Wareham v Marsella is so different to Katz v Grossman [read more]
Click here to provide your instructions For many Australians, SMSF investments are a key component of their retirement savings and wealth creation strategies. For example, the ATO confirmed there were more than 600,000 SMSFs with an average value of more than $1.27 million for the quarter ended 30 September 2019. Unfortunately, many do not plan [read more]
Introduction The Victorian Court of Appeal recently handed down Wareham v Marsella [2020] VSCA 92. This judgement represents the appeal of Marsella v Wareham (No 2) [2019] VSC 65. In brief, the appeal was dismissed. The appeal judgement illustrates that trustees (including SMSF trustees) are held to very high standards, and when performing their duties, [read more]
The COVID-19 pandemic has raised various practical issues for SMSF trustees and members. Members may wish to make a binding death benefit nomination (‘BDBN’) but may be frustrated by the requirement to have two independent witnesses available as this can prove challenging, if not impossible or illegal, during these difficult and dangerous (COVID-19) times. To [read more]
In recent months, we have seen a significant increase in succession planning queries and assignments where we have been asked to provide advice and/or documents, including binding death benefit nominations (‘BDBNs’), reversionary pensions, planning for control of an SMSF and implementing timely member exit strategies for those who may be left with a limited time [read more]
Background There are several methods that a member can to access their superannuation ‘legitimately’ before retirement. Lately, advisers, self managed superannuation fund (‘SMSF’) trustees and members are very keen to learn more on this topic given the financial stress caused by the recent bushfires, floods, COVID-19 pandemic and reduced business/economic activity. Further, the Australian Taxation [read more]
Introduction Real estate is a common and popular investment for SMSFs. Indeed, the ATO’s SMSF statistical report for the quarter ended 30 September 2019 shows that SMSFs held around $35 billion in residential real property and around $64.6 billion in non-residential property, ie, around $99.6 billion worth of real property. It is also reasonably popular [read more]
Since the foreign purchaser duty surcharge was first introduced in Victoria in 2015, it has been introduced in NSW, Tasmania, WA and SA (and only in respect of land tax in the ACT). The various changes in law and administrative practice in these jurisdictions, has made this a challenging area of law. In particular, the [read more]
