The unintended action of triggering a resettlement as a result of an amendment to a trust deed, when a family trust is set up to provide for family beneficiaries, ranks as one of the top SMSF “stuff ups”, according to a legal executive.

The SMSF Association has made a white label document available to its members to assist them in the review of trust deeds in light of the super reforms introduced on 1 July, particularly to address benefit payments and estate planning.

An SMSF is a type of trust that, like all trusts, is ‘run’ by its trustee. Case law tells us that one of the most fundamental duties of a trustee is that they obey the rules of that trust. The rules of the trust (sometimes referred to as the governing rules) are usually found in or annexed to the trust deed.

SMSF advisers and trustees must be aware that notifying the ATO about the use of the capital gains tax (CGT) relief provisions, included as part of the superannuation reforms introduced on 1 July, cannot be done via the annual return of the fund.

A commonly overlooked trap with transition-to-retirement income streams (TRIS) and documents is that they are not prescriptive and do not necessarily force an SMSF trustee or member to act in a certain way.

Many existing SMSF trust deeds may not include clearly stipulated terms required for funds to properly deal with reversionary pensions under the incoming superannuation rules, according to a technical expert.

A specialist superannuation lawyer has warned financial advisers and accountants to ensure their SMSF clients have up-to-date fund information to determine whether their pension balances are over the $1.6 million transfer balance cap at 30 June this year.

Cloud-based documentation provider NowInfinity has completed a restructure that will boost its executive management and operations and ready the company for fintech growth.

Advisers relying on their SMSF software to generate pension documentation for their clients in pension phase are running the risk of the paperwork being inadequate for these needs, according to a senior superannuation consulting executive.