POWERED BY MOMENTUM MEDIA
SMSF cautioned on trustee status
Self-managed super funds (SMSFs) should appoint a company as corporate trustee rather than the SMSF owner to shield them from tax liabilities and penalties, according to CooperGraceWard law partner Scott Hay-Bartlem.
Hay-Bartlem told delegates at the Small Independent Superannuation Funds Association conference that if an SMSF is made non-compliant and it has a corporate trustee, if there is no money in the fund, then the trustee will be liable for any Australian Taxation Office tax assessment and not the SMSF owner.
Normally, any tax assessment is paid for from the fund.
Recent court cases demonstrated that it was much safer for SMSFs to make a company the corporate trustee rather than letting the owner of the SMSF do it, he said.
There are also limitations on individual trustees on how they can vote, and much fewer limitations and more options of who can have the power in a company structure.
Directors can have different powers, and people can have differential voting rights, giving one person more control over the fund than you can have as an individual trustee, Hay-Bartlem said.
Individual trustees have to act jointly, whereas the directors can act by majority, he said.
However, SMSF members had to be careful with some deeds that automatically impose differential voting rights, Hay-Bartlem warned.
AUTHOR
Staff Writer
Money Management staff writers are writers who contribute to the website from time to time. If you would like to discuss the content contained within this article please contact us.
Recommended for you
Private market assets in super have surged, while private debt recorded the fastest growth among all investment types.
The equities investor has launched a new long-short fund seeded by UniSuper, targeting alpha from ASX 300 equities using AI insights.
The fund has strengthened efforts to boost gender diversity, targeting 40:40:20 balance across its investment teams by 2030.
The lower outlook for inflation has set the stage for another two rate cuts over the first half of 2026, according to Westpac.
TOP PERFORMING FUNDS
ACS FIXED INT - AUSTRALIA/GLOBAL BOND
Fund name
3y(%)pa
1
DomaCom DFS Mortgage
92.15 3 y p.a(%)
2
Global X 21Shares Bitcoin ETF
53.24 3 y p.a(%)
3
Global X GlobalX FANG+ ETF
43.15 3 y p.a(%)
4
DomaCom Shoreline North Coogee
36.26 3 y p.a(%)
5
GAM LSA Private Shares AU I
35.87 3 y p.a(%)
