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SMSF Trustee Compliance Kit

SMSF Trustee Compliance Kit

The DBA Lawyers’ Trustee Compliance Kit (‘TC Kit’) provides practical guidance for SMSF trustees on the procedural requirements of decision recording. The TC Kit provides excellent guidance on how SMSF trustees should comply with their decision making and recording of trustee decisions under the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (Cth) (‘SISA’) and the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) [read more]

Six member SMSFs –– the pros and cons

Six member SMSFs –– the pros and cons

Overview The prospect of six member SMSFs has moved a step further when the Treasury Laws Amendment (Self-Managed Superannuation Funds) Bill 2020 (‘Bill’) was recently introduced into Parliament. If the Bill is finalised as law in November, the increase to the maximum allowable number of members for an SMSF could commence as early as 1 [read more]

Managing TBC & minimising excess transfer balance tax

Managing TBC & excess transfer balance tax

Overview This article focuses on managing a member’s transfer balance cap (‘TBC’) with a view to minimising excess transfer balance tax (‘ETB Tax’). We provide a brief background to assist members and SMSF trustees to better monitor transfer balance caps (‘TBC’) so they can avoid or minimise ETB Tax. This article covers account-style pensions such [read more]

SG amnesty –– 7 September 2020 deadline

SG amnesty –– 7 September 2020 deadline

Background The Superannuation Guarantee (‘SG’) amnesty was introduced as law on 6 March 2020 by the Treasury Laws Amendment (Recovering Unpaid Superannuation) Act 2020 (Cth) and the deadline of 7 September 2020 is near. The amnesty enables ‘employers’ to rectify any shortfall and related amounts under the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992 (Cth) (‘SGAA’) for [read more]

Discretionary trusts & the foreign purchaser duty surcharge across Australia

Discretionary trusts & the foreign purchaser duty surcharge across Australia

Broadly, foreign purchaser duty surcharge of 7% to 8% applies on top of the normal duty impost (typically between 5% to 6%) where a discretionary trust acquires relevant real estate and the trust is deemed to be a ‘foreign trust’ in the relevant jurisdiction. For simplicity, we refer to ‘discretionary trusts with foreign beneficiaries’ that [read more]

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Market linked pensions –– timely action may be needed to avoid a hefty excess transfer balance tax assessment

SMSFs paying market linked pensions (‘MLPs’) should carefully review the potential impact of recent changes to the transfer balance cap (‘TBC’) rules where an MLP that commenced prior to 1 July 2017 was commuted or restructured on or after that date. The Treasury Laws Amendment (2019 Measures No. 3) Act 2019 (Cth) received royal assent [read more]

Why use pension documentation from DBA Lawyers

Why use pension documentation from DBA Lawyers

DBA Lawyers offers industry-leading pension documentation. In this article, I set out several key benefits of using pension documentation from DBA Lawyers. Our expert lawyers regularly review and revise our documents Our documents are regularly reviewed and revised to ensure they reflect the latest superannuation, tax and related practical and strategic developments. Each suite of [read more]

Sutton v NRS(J) Pty Ltd [2020] NSWSC 826: Lessons for managing lost trust deeds

Sutton v NRS(J) Pty Ltd [2020] NSWSC 826: Lessons for managing lost trust deeds

The recent decision of Sutton v NRS(J) Pty Ltd [2020] NSWSC 826 highlights the importance of having original executed copies of all constituent trust documents. It has tremendous relevance for SMSFs. Facts The facts of the case were as follows: In 17 August 1972, a discretionary trust (‘Trust’) was established for the benefit of the [read more]

Recent change to the tax treatment of income from super in a testamentary trust

Recent change to the tax treatment of income from super in a testamentary trust

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]