Articles by
Garth McNally
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Q&A: Does a property owned by an SMSF need to be sold upon retirement or can we take possession?
We have a real estate property in our SMSF that is rented out and passes the sole purpose test. Our fund is only two members, my wife and I. When we retire, does an asset like this need to be liquidated, or could the members take possession of the property?
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Q&A: Can I receive my deceased spouse’s accumulation death benefit in a pension income stream?
If a fund has two members (both in accumulation) and one dies, can the surviving spouse receive the deceased spouse’s super by a death benefit pension income stream?
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Q&A: I’m 60. What happens to my super when I wind up my SMSF?
You certainly won’t be able to actually close or what we call wind up your SMSF until all the member’s benefits which are held within the fund have actually been dealt with.
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Q&A: What should we have in place for when an individual trustee of an SMSF passes away?
What I need to highlight here, is we’re looking at individual trustees and not a company acting as trustee. We’ve got two individual trustees.
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Q&A: What to consider if a director of a corporate trustee of a single member SMSF resigns
There are lots of things that we need to consider. What I’ve given you here is the actual rules which are contained within the superannuation legislation.
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Q&A: I’m over 75. Can I make a super contribution?
The key here is the age restriction on making contributions to super. Really, from age 75, the only real contributions that can be made to super are what we call downsizer contributions.
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Q&A: How can you reduce inheritance tax if you leave your super to your children?
This is something that we all want to know, right? We want to make sure that if we leave money to our kids, that they don’t get hit with tax on that money.
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Q&A: Can I contribute to a grandchild’s super account?
Am I allowed to put money from my savings into my granddaughter’s super account?
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Q&A: Can you make super contributions when you work overseas?
Non-residents can make super contributions, but check with the fund around their rules.
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Q&A: How much can I contribute in year 4 of a bring-forward period?
If you contribute $30,000 short in the first three years, then in year four, are you able to contribute after tax of $110,000 plus the $30,000 short for all from years one to three?
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Q&A: Do SMSFs perform better than industry funds?
This is difficult to answer because when you are comparing the performance of an industry fund to the performance of a self-managed super fund, it’s difficult to compare like for like.
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Q&A: Can I withdraw a lump sum after I start a pension?
Once the super account is a pension account, can a lump sum be withdrawn, say, after one year of receiving a pension from it?
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Q&A: How can I recontribute my pension payments back into my super?
When I receive payments from an account-based pension, I know I can put some back to my accumulation account. How is the amount put back treated? Is it a non-concessional or a concessional contribution?
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Q&A: Can I contribute to super after I start a pension?
Is it allowable to commute a pension, add the additional funds, and then restart a “new pension” with the increased amount, all on the same day?
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SMSF property ownership options and opportunities
One of the attractions of SMSFs is their ability to invest in real property, and there are many ways trustees can go about it.
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Tax hike on super balances above $3 million: Is it time to rethink our retirement savings vehicles?
Super may be the most tax-effective retirement savings vehicle, but for those with higher balances it may be time to look at alternatives.
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Q&A: Can you transfer an investment property into an SMSF?
Remember that it is not an asset that you own. It’s owned by the trust. Even if you’re a beneficiary of the family trust, the trustee can give you income, it can assign you income, but you don’t own the assets.
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Q&A: Can you make an in specie transfer of crypto into an SMSF?
You can’t currently transfer a crypto asset or holding into your SMSF. You couldn’t do it by way of an in specie contribution, and you couldn’t do it by way of the fund acquiring it from you for cash. The rules are the same.
