The Most Important Guidelines for Managing SMSF
When it comes to setting up your own SMSF there are quite a lot of rules and guidelines you should know about. These also tend to change sometimes so it’s also important that you check to see if they have changed recently. If you are new to setting up an SMSF it is important to know and understand the basic self managed super fund rules and regulations. Below we will touch on the basics and the essential of everything you need to know about self managed super fund rules.
The first thing you should know are the numerous legislative instruments that are tied to self managed super funds. There are four that you must know about and they are the superannuation industry supervision act 1993, superannuation industry supervision regulations 1994, income tax assessment act 1997, and the corporations act 2001. These all include their own set of rules and regulations that apply to self managed super funds so it is important that you know what they are and how they might apply to you.
The next thing you should know is the requirements that come with an SMSF on an annual basis and which trustees must follow. As a trustee, there are requirements that each trustee needs to meet. Some of these include preparing financial statements, preparing an annual return that has been lodged with the ATO by the time the due date comes by, have an approved auditor who will examine and assess the compliance to financial statement and the status of the SMSF, and lastly all trustees must pay the supervisory levy and the tax liability that comes with the self managed super fund when it is due.
When it comes to record keeping, there are a lot of documents and records that need to be recorded. All trustees are required to keep certain records for five years, some for ten years at a time. It’s always best to keep these things in one place where they can’t get lost and can easily be tracked. The records that all trustees need for five years are accounting records that detail and transactions and financial position, annual operating statements and annual statements, copies of annual returns that have been lodged, and any other copies of any other statements that have been lodged with the ATO.
It is important to keep any and all the records listed above which have to be kept for 5 years. There are also records that must be kept for 10 years which include minutes of all trustee meeting, change of director records depending if the SMSF has a corporate trustee, written consent by members that have been appointed as trustees, change of trustee records, trustee declarations, and all copies of member reports. If you are interested in starting your own SMSF it is important you understand all the self managed super fund rules and regulations.
