SMSF accounting, tax & lending

A self-managed super fund is a private super fund with up to six members, who are also its trustees. Instead of an industry or retail fund making the investment calls, you do — within the rules the ATO sets.

Up to six. Every member has to be a trustee too (or a director, if you’re using a corporate trustee), which means everyone shares legal responsibility for running the fund properly — not just the person who set it up.

Act in the best interests of every member, follow superannuation law, keep proper records, and get the fund audited each year. It’s a real legal duty, not a formality — the ATO holds trustees personally accountable if things go wrong.

Every year, without exception. An ATO-approved independent auditor has to sign off before your annual return goes in. We arrange this audit as part of the annual package — you don’t need to find your own auditor.

With individual trustees, each member is personally a trustee. With a corporate trustee, a company holds that role and the members are its directors. We default new funds to a corporate trustee — it’s required for LRBAs, makes adding or removing members far less painful, and keeps fund assets clearly separate from anyone’s personal assets.

Yes, through a Limited Recourse Borrowing Arrangement (LRBA), which has to be set up carefully — a separate bare trust is non-negotiable. We build that bare trust structure and look after the accounting side, but we don’t weigh in on whether borrowing inside your fund is the right move. That call belongs to a licensed financial adviser.

Depends on the balance, the time you’re willing to put in, and how much you actually want control over the investment decisions. It generally suits people with larger super balances who are happy to be hands-on, or willing to pay someone to be hands-on for them. We won’t tell you whether it’s right for you — that’s a licensed financial adviser’s call, and we’ll point you to one if you want a second opinion.

No. We’re a registered tax agent, not a licensed financial adviser, so we don’t recommend shares, property, or anything else your fund might hold, and we don’t advise on contribution timing or pension structures either. Those calls sit with you and your co-trustees. What we guarantee is that the accounting, tax return, and audit get done properly and on time.

No. We’re a registered tax agent, not a licensed financial adviser, so we don’t recommend shares, property, or anything else your fund might hold, and we don’t advise on contribution timing or pension structures either. Those calls sit with you and your co-trustees. What we guarantee is that the accounting, tax return, and audit get done properly and on time.

Financial statements, an SMSF annual return lodged with the ATO, and an independent audit completed before that return goes in. On top of that, trustees need to keep proper records, value the fund’s assets at market value, and meet minimum pension drawdown requirements if anyone’s in pension phase. We handle all of it under the annual package.

Accounting records for at least five years. Some documents — the trust deed, investment strategy, trustee meeting minutes — need to be kept for ten. Everything has to be in English and stay in Australia unless the ATO says otherwise. We keep your financial records as part of the annual service, so this one’s mostly off your plate.

It ranges from a notice of non-compliance — which strips the fund’s tax concessions — to administrative penalties, and in serious cases, prosecution. The breaches that come up most: loans to members, buying assets from related parties, and missing the annual return deadline. Staying on top of compliance each year is the real fix, which is the whole point of the annual package.

Their benefits go to nominated beneficiaries or their estate, as set out in the trust deed and superannuation law. How it’s taxed depends on who receives it and their relationship to the deceased member. Get your death benefit nominations properly documented well before this matters — it’s worth involving a lawyer alongside a financial adviser.

Yes – we are a registered tax agent and a licensed mortgage broker, so we source and structure your LRBA from our specialist lender panel ourselves. The same firm that set up your fund and prepares its tax return handles the loan, which speeds up the application considerably, since lenders ask for your trust deed, financials, and tax return as part of their assessment anyway.

None of the big four anymore — CommBank, NAB, ANZ and Westpac all exited consumer SMSF lending. The market now runs on specialist non-bank lenders and tier-two institutions, including La Trobe Financial, Liberty, Pepper Money and Resimac. Each one has its own rules on minimum fund balance, LVR, acceptable property types and liquidity buffers, which is exactly why you want a broker who already knows the panel.

For residential property, most lenders cap LVR at 70–80% — so a 20–30% deposit from inside the fund. A few specialist lenders will stretch to 90% at a higher rate. Commercial property runs lower, typically 65–70% LVR. Most lenders also want a fund balance of $250,000–$300,000 before they’ll even consider an application, plus a post-settlement cash buffer of 5–10% of the property value for the unexpected.