SUPERCentral News
From 1 July 2022 the cap on the amount of contributions which can participate in the First Home Super Saver Scheme (FHSS Scheme) will be $50,000 (currently the cap is $30,000).
From 1 July 2022 the access age for downsizer contributions will be age 60 (currently age 65).
With an ageing SMSF population what factors do we as advisers need to consider to determine whether our clients have capacity to act as a trustee? Jeff Song, Associate of Townsends Business & Corporate Lawyers will look at types of incapacity, the presumptions of sanity, stress test the SMSF for trustee incapacity and more. Register now by clicking the link above.
The ATO has recently confirmed that the Covid-19 reliefs which applied to SMSFs for the 2019/20 and 2020/21 will continue to apply to the current financial year of 2021/22. However, it would seem unlikely that they would be further extended beyond 1 July 2022.
The compliance and cost burden for SMSFs which are entirely in retirement phase during a financial year may now be reduced as they will no longer be required to obtain an actuarial certificate to determine their "exempt current pension income".
Peter Townsend, Principal of Townsends Business & Corporate Lawyers, will discuss the various structural issues relating to intergenerational wealth transfer including using testamentary discretionary trusts, bequests to an existing family trust, loan strategies for asset protection, buy/sell arrangements and of course the role of superannuation.
Only a few months ago, the Government was proposing that trustees of Self Managed Superannuation Funds (SMSFs) were to be subject to a retirement income covenant.
This course is ideal if you are looking to develop your expertise in estate planning and broaden your service offering.
The timing issue with the death benefit strategy of withdrawing a member's entire super prior to their death - superannuation member benefit vs superannuation death benefit.
There has been a continuing legal controversy as to whether Binding Death Benefit Nominations (BDBNs) for SMSFs must, in order to be valid, comply with both the 2 independent witness rule and 3 year validity period rules (2 witness & 3 year rules). There is no controversy as to whether these rules apply for BDBNs in industry and retail superannuation funds: they do.
Peter Townsend, Principal of Townsends Business & Corporate Lawyers will discuss the various structural issues relating to intergenerational wealth transfer including using testamentary discretionary trusts, bequests to an existing family trust, loan strategies for asset protection, buy/sell arrangements and of course the role of superannuation.
As indicated in the recent May Budget, the Government has decided to re-commence the project to introduce mutual funds (technical name - "Corporate Collective Investment Vehicles" abbreviated to "CCIVs" or event more succinctly "204s"). The Government intends that the legislative regime permitting mutual funds will have a start date of 1 July 2022.
Interested in understanding Testamentary Trusts vs Discretionary Testamentary Trusts, how they differ and how they can be incorporated as part of an intergenerational wealth transfer strategy, then look out for our webinar announcement in next month's SC News.
A question we get from time to time is whether the trustee(s) of an SMSF can enter into transactions with a fund member's former spouse whether the transaction is a loan, lease or another type. In this article, we will consider a number of compliance issues with SMSF transactions involving a former spouse.
The salutary lesson to be learned from this case is that before any action is taken in respect of superannuation pension, always consider whether the pension is subject to Centrelink "pension grandfathering".
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) maintains a publicly accessible website of Self Managed Superannuation Funds (SMSFs) - called SuperFund Lookup. This data base contains basic information about an SMSF such as its name, its ABN, contact details and, most importantly, its "status". Neither the name of the trustee nor the names of the members of the SMSF are disclosed on the website.
An amendment bill has now been introduced into Parliament to permit the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to provide details about the superannuation accounts of a party to a Family Law property proceedings.
Our patented update process works a little differently, and a key benefit is Trustees only ever sign one set of documents.
In the 2016-17 Federal Budget, the Government announced targeted amendments to Division 7A. A single 10 year loan model will be used instead of the existing 25 year and 7 year loans. The interest rate will also be revised to the RBA overdraft rate for small business which is usually 2% higher than the current benchmark rate.