Regardless of the size of your superannuation benefits, it is vital that you sort out your estate plans to ensure that you have a well prepared estate plan so that the right assets go to the right beneficiaries. You need to make sure that you get holistic estate planning advice and have arrangements in place to review your estate plans regularly. Estate plans are not to be set and forgotten.
In February this year, the Government passed legislation which prevents trustees of APRA-regulated funds from providing insurance to members with inactive superannuation accounts, unless a member has directed otherwise.
It is a common practice for many individuals with an SMSF to also have a secondary APRA-regulated fund which provides them with insurance.
Your SMSF is a long-term plan. Much can happen during this time including illness, incapacity or death of a member.
It is best practice to have contingency plans in place to deal with unexpected events. For example, if a fund member dies, leaving you as the sole member are you happy to continue with the SMSF?
Outlined are some issues to consider planning for as trustees. Leaving the planning to when, and if an event happens may be too late.
With the end of the financial year fast approaching, now is the perfect time to ensure everything is in place for your SMSF before 30 June. The following are some superannuation strategies that you might want to know more about to get the best out of your SMSF.
Personal Superannuation Contributions – 10% rule repealed
With the end of the financial year fast approaching, it is time to start thinking about income tax deductions.
Under the new Government changes to super, effective 1 July 2017, the 10% maximum earnings condition for personal superannuation contributions was removed for the 2017-18 and future financial years.
You may have noticed significant media coverage recently regarding the Australian Labor Party’s proposed policy to stop SMSFs from receiving tax refunds for the franking credits they receive in conjunction with the dividends paid from Australian companies they own.
First of all, what are franking credits and how do they benefit SMSFs?
Under the Australian tax system companies pay 30 per cent tax on their profits. When these profits are then passed on to their shareholders in the form of dividends, the company also hands the shareholders a credit for the tax the company has already paid (the “franking credit”). The individual shareholder then pays tax on the profit they received from the company less the credit for the tax the company has already paid. The franking credit ensures that the company profits are taxed at a shareholder’s marginal tax rate.
Shield Wealth and Stellar Super, in conjunction with Paul Salinas, from Campbell & Co Lawyers are hosting boardroom sessions in March.
Estate planning is a subject that we don’t like to think about but in its simplest form, it is just about ensuring peace of mind. It is about making sure that the investments you make now are passed on to your family or beneficiaries in the most effective way.
Developing an effective estate plan will ensure that:
• Any tax payable is minimised
• The ownership of assets passes to the right beneficiaries
• The assets are protected if any beneficiary has any legal issues
The superannuation trust deed, along with the superannuation laws, form the governing rules that a self-managed super fund (SMSF) need to operate by. The introduction of the $1.6 million transfer balance cap (TBC) and new transition to retirement income stream (TRIS) rules are a ‘game changer’ for SMSFs when discussing benefit payments and estate planning. With the new super rules in effect as of 1 July 2017, now is the right time to review if your trust deed needs to be enhanced or amended to deal with the new approaches and strategies you may need to implement.
Trust deeds in the new SMSF world – Benefit payments and estate planning
The superannuation trust deed, along with the superannuation laws, form the governing rules that a self-managed super fund (SMSF) need to operate by. The introduction of the $1.6 million transfer balance cap (TBC) and new transition to retirement income stream (TRIS) rules are a ‘game changer’ for SMSFs when discussing benefit payments and estate planning. With the new super rules in effect as of 1 July 2017, now is the right time to review if your trust deed needs to be enhanced or amended to deal with the new approaches and strategies you may need to implement.
From 1 July 2017 a cap of $1.6m will be introduced on the amount a person can transfer into the tax free retirement phase. Anyone with a total retirement phase balance in excess of $1.6m will generally be required to either commute the excess amount back to accumulation phase or withdraw the excess from superannuation altogether. Further, transition to retirement (TRIS) pensions will not be treated as retirement phase income streams from 1 July 2017.
Overview
Earnings on assets supporting retirement phase income streams are eligible for an exemption from income tax. To compensate those who will need to transfer assets out of retirement phase in order to comply with the new rules will have access to Capital Gains Tax (CGT) relief on the impacted assets. This CGT relief will allow the Trustee to elect to reset an asset’s cost base in 2016-17. This effectively locks in the capital gains tax treatment of the assets up to 30 June 2017 prior to the new rules applying from 1 July 2017. How this relief applies is different depending on several factors.
