Trustees of a corporate SMSF that are interested in organising an enduring power of attorney for a member who has lost capacity or is overseas have been advised to ensure they set up a director identification number for the replacement trustee.
BT Academy head of financial literacy and advocacy Bryan Ashenden said financial planners need to ensure their clients in a corporate SMSF have appropriately planned for the ongoing operation of the fund, including those who may act on behalf of a trustee.
“The first step will be deciding the people that need to get the director identification number and then we can establish the corporate SMSF trustee,” Ashenden said during a technical briefing today.
“From 5 April 2022, if a financial adviser makes a recommendation to a client to set up an SMSF, then part of that process is to recommend having a corporate trustee.
“Think about the ongoing operation of the fund. If you have clients that are going overseas for a period of time and they have a SMSF, they might want to appoint somebody as a power of attorney to make decisions on their behalf while they are overseas.
“If they have got the corporate trustee in place, the attorney will essentially need to have a director identification number to fulfil those responsibilities.”
In the event a member dies, he noted trustees will also need to ensure any legal personal representative acting for the deceased member has a director identification number, otherwise they cannot make decisions on behalf of the deceased.
“Part of that process is the legal personal representative actually needs to be appointed as a trustee of the fund. If it’s a corporate trustee, that person would need to be appointed as a director of the corporate trustee and now needs to have that director identification number,” he said.
“If this takes place after 5 April next year, they will need to have that director identification number before they can actually be appointed.”
