SMSF Set Up

Your self-managed super fund (SMSF) needs to be set up correctly so that it’s eligible for tax concessions, can receive contributions and is as easy as possible to administer.

You can engage self-managed super fund (SMSF) professionals to help you set up and run your fund. You may want to get them involved right from the start since the decisions you make at start-up can affect their ability to help you later on.

If you use an SMSF professional to help you set up your fund, you’re still responsible for making sure it’s done correctly.

We can help you to set up your SMSF correctly. Please reach out to us so we can give a tailored quote based on your unique requirements.

An SMSF is a legal tax structure whose sole purpose is to financial benefits to members in retirement and their beneficiaries on death. It has its own Tax File Number (TFN), Australian Business Number (ABN) and transactional bank account, which allows the fund to receive contributions and rollovers, make investments and pay out lump sums and pensions. All SMSF investments are made in the name of the fund and are controlled by the trustees. As a trust,
an SMSF requires a trustee. There are two trustee structure options:

Corporate trustee– a company acts as the trustee and each member is a director. This structure allows simpler recording and registering of assets, providing administration efficiencies and flexibility in membership. Company establishment and ongoing fees are applicable with this structure.
Individual trustee– each member is appointed as a trustee, with a minimum of two trustees required.

As an SMSF trustee, you are responsible for making investment decisions and ensuring implementation of an investment strategy for your fund. SMSFs also have strict administrative obligations that require you to maintain records, provide ﬁnancial statements, complete a tax return and organise an independent audit. For this reason, many trustees engage SMSF specialists to help them manage their accounting, auditing and tax reporting, as well as provide ﬁnancial and investment advice. However, they always remain completely responsible for the decisions and administration of their fund.

In addition you will also need to set up a separate holding trust (also called Bare Trust), which will be the legal owner of the property, and the holding trust trustee . To purchase the property, the SMSF can use the fund it has available in cash and borrow the remaining funds plus other associated costs, using the investment property as security for the loan.

The holding trust becomes the legal owner of the property, while the SMSF is the beneﬁcial owner and receives the rental income. The rent (and/or other income from the SMSF, such as investment income and super contributions) can be used by the SMSF trustee to make the loan repayments.

It’s important to note that the loan is a limited recourse loan. In the event of a default, the lender has recourse to the property security and any additional security provided by the guarantors.

The Lender will not have recourse to any other assets held in your SMSF. Once the loan is repaid the legal ownership of the property may be transferred to your SMSF.

At SMSF Loan Expert, we want to make sure we take the hassle out of the whole SMSF set up and Property loan process.

SMSF Set Up

quick links

quick links

Contact Us

join for monthly newsletters