Contributions
Once established, your Fund is able to accept contributions and rollovers. Contributions may be made by cash, cheque, or transfer of assets into the Fund, according to the law. You must provide us with full details of all contributions made to your Fund so that we can ensure they receive the correct tax treatment.
Contributions are required to be allocated and fully vested by the Trustee for the benefit of the relevant member. There are restrictions on the amount of contributions that can be made into your Fund. These limits are often referred to as the ‘contribution caps’ or simply ‘caps’. As Trustees of your Fund you are responsible for monitoring your contributions against the caps (both concessional and non-concessional), and we recommend that you obtain appropriate professional financial and/or tax advice so that you understand the contribution limits for each member of your Fund.
Benefits and Preservation
We recommend that you discuss your superannuation benefit payments with your financial and/or tax adviser as there are a number of tax implications that impact on these payments, especially if you are under age 60.
As Trustee of your Fund you are required to understand your responsibilities and ensure they are properly discharged. We provide all the administration support required by you, as Trustee, to ensure benefits are correctly accrued, calculated, preserved, and paid.
Superannuation Benefit Payments
If you satisfy a condition of release, and wish to have your superannuation benefit paid in the form of a lump sum, the Trustees should write to us detailing the condition of release you have satisfied and providing us with an authority for the amount to be paid to you.
You can receive your superannuation benefit payment, excluding pension payments, as cash or in specie (actual assets). If you choose to take your benefit payment as assets, transfer costs such as stamp duties and CGT may be included in the calculation of Fund earnings allocated to your member account in the Fund.
Transfers and Rollovers
Any partial transfer or rollover of benefits to another Fund that you may request will be made proportionately from the taxable and tax-free components of your total benefit.
Pension Benefits
Rather than having your entire superannuation benefit paid as a lump sum, you may wish to receive all or part of your entitlement as a pension benefit payment.
Your Investment Strategy
Trustees of a self-managed superannuation fund are to maintain a current investment strategy. An investment strategy is a detailed financial plan made by the trustees of a self-managed super fund based on consideration of the sole purpose of the fund. It considers the current and/or future financial needs of each of the fund members and is framed in the in the context of their risk preferences. Please contact your Client Manager and/or adviser for further information.
Initial Contributions
Once established your fund can accept contributions (if eligible) and rollovers. Contributing to super is a vital part of growing retirement savings. In recent years there have been various changes to contributions, primarily with the introduction of the Total Superannuation Balance (TSB) concept. The TSB is essentially the sum of an individual’s superannuation accounts, and the eligibility of members to make certain types of contributions is now governed by this total balance.
SMSFs can borrow in very limited circumstances and can be a complex area. For further information relating to limited recourse loan arrangements or to discuss how we can assist you with borrowing in your SMSF please contact your dedicated client manager.
Trustees are required to consider the insurance needs of members as part of the fund’s investment strategy. Therefore, if trustees are required to consider insurance it is important to know what sort of insurance the should be considering.
There are varied reasons why trustees may decide to wind up their SMSF. It’s important for SMSF trustees to have an exit plan in place even if they are not ready to wind up now, as this will make it easier when the time does come. Your dedicated Client Manager will be able to assist you with the wind-up process.
The following reports will be prepared and provided online to the Trustee and Fund members.
- Compilation Report
- Trustee Declaration Report
- Statement of Financial Position
- Operating Statement
- Notes to the Financial Statements
- Investment Summary Report
- Investment Movement Report
- Realised Capital Gains Report
- Unrealised Capital Gains Report
- Investment Income Summary Report
- Member Statements
- Annual Return – SMSF
Giving Us Instructions
Our contact details for the purpose of you, or your nominated representative, giving us instructions are:
- 1300 11 98 98
- support@wealthtracsmsf.com.au
- GPO Box 1215 Adelaide SA 5001
We will accept instructions in relation to your Fund from you or your nominated representative, subject to the restrictions set out below.
Email Instructions
All instructions must be in writing and originate from an email address that we recognise to be yours or that of your nominated representative.
Phone Instructions
We will also accept your instructions via telephone.
Your Indemnity to Us
You agree to release us from, and indemnify us against, all losses and liabilities arising from any payment or action we make or undertake based on any instruction, even if not genuine, that we receive, whether by fax, email or phone as set out above, which is apparently yours or that of a nominated representative.
Instructions we will not act Upon
We are not obliged to effect instructions if:
- They relate to implementing any investment transactions for your Fund;
- They are contrary to our agreement with you, the law or any market practice;
- They are incomplete or are, in our opinion, unclear;
- You are, or we suspect that you are, in breach of superannuation law;
- You have not made arrangements which we consider satisfactory for payment of any unpaid amounts of our fees or amounts of our fees that we consider will become payable;
- We reasonably believe the instructions are not genuine;
- You have not provided us with relevant documents or other authorities, or information we consider necessary to act on your instructions;
- We are not satisfied that we are sufficiently indemnified against possible liability arising from acting on your instructions; and
- Your participation in Wealthtrac SMSF is suspended or terminated or in the process of being terminated.
To the extent permitted by law, we don’t accept liability, including liability for negligence, for instructions we don’t implement in these circumstances and you release us from and indemnify us against all such liability.
Notices
From time to time, we may need to give you notice of certain matters in relation to your participation in Wealthtrac SMSF such as changes to fees or other services available through Wealthtrac SMSF.
Privacy
From time to time, we may need to collect and verify information about you and, where applicable, people acting on your behalf, in order to provide the services to you. We collect this personal information strictly in accordance with the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth). You can request access to your personal information or our full privacy policy by contacting us. The full privacy policy can also be obtained by visiting wealthtrac.com.au
Fees Spread Proportionately
Generally fees and charges are deducted proportionately from each member account within your Fund. This means that the member with the largest account balance will bear the largest proportion of the fee. In some cases where a fee or expense can be directly attributed to a particular member, e.g. insurance costs, that amount will be charged solely to their account.
Collection and Remittance of Service Provider Fees
We can collect and remit payments to a number of service providers to the Fund, these include adviser service fees, audit fees, trust deed fees, and actuarial fees.
Following provision of the relevant service to the Fund, and receipt of an invoice from the service provider, we will deduct the cost from your Fund’s Cash Account by the direct debit method. The direct debit authority you provide to us authorises these deductions.
Increases or Alterations to the Fees
If there is an increase in the rate of GST payable on any of the services provided to your Fund, we will pass this increase on to your Fund and reflect these changes in its charges. Further, over time we may vary our charges.
We won’t increase our fees or charges, other than government fees and charges, without first giving you 30 days’ written notice.
Adviser Service Fees
If you have agreed an adviser service fee with your financial adviser, the amount will be deducted from your Fund and paid to your adviser. Any adviser service fee payable is additional to our establishment fee and our ongoing management costs.
Mailing Address for Your Investments
We reconcile your investment transactions with your Cash Accounts daily. You can help this process by also ensuring copies of any documents that you may receive relating to your Fund, such as bank and investment statements, dividend notices, ATO correspondence, and purchase documents for real estate are sent to the Fund. In most cases we will be able to collect the information electronically, however, we may send a task to you to collect information.
Generally you should use your own address for the physical address on any investment documents.
Investment Restrictions
A key area of responsibility for Trustees of SMSFs is investment management. Superannuation law places certain duties and responsibilities on Trustees when making investment decisions concerning such things as loans to members, Funds are prohibited from borrowing money except in limited circumstances, the use of instalment warrants, related party acquisitions and so on. Investment restrictions, duties and obligations are not listed here in detail and we recommend that you obtain professional advice in this area.
More information is also available on websites such as the ATO website www.ato.gov.au.