My client is the trustee of an SMSF. He’s unhappy with the performance of the fund’s investments and is proposing to undertake a course to improve his investment knowledge. Can his SMSF pay the course fees? If so, would they be tax deductible?

I think I’m still recovering from our first ever virtual Super Intensive Day last week. Thank you so much to all of you who joined us in our big adventure.

A standard account based pension can offer members the opportunity to take commutations – a lump sum now in exchange for lower income stream payments in the future. Why do we care whether it’s a partial commutation or a full commutation?

Almost all pension members will occasionally draw more than the minimum pension amount in a given year. If so, it is critical to think carefully about how those extra payments should be treated and documented before taking the payment.

We often hear that clients who take more than the minimum required from their pension accounts each year should treat the extra amount as a commutation rather than a pension payment. But when does this really make sense?

My client recently died. I know superannuation death benefits need to be dealt with “as soon as practicable” after death but how long is “as soon as practicable”?

It’s great to see the ATO putting out its own commentary and explaining its compliance approach for the auditors regarding the new APESB Independence Guide. But there is a clear omission.

Any reduction in personal income taxes inevitably has an indirect impact on super. What have the most recent tax cuts done to the equation?

In last night’s 2020-21 Federal Budget, the Government proposed a number of changes designed to remove some of the structural flaws in our current superannuation system.

Like Meg Heffron, I was torn when thinking about this year’s Federal Budget. Was I hoping for no changes to super to provide some stability for our clients or was I hoping for a few changes to get my teeth into. And the result was ….

Well I didn’t get my Budget wishlist. I wanted the Government to: deal with residency, legacy pensions and the unnecessary complexity for the indexation of transfer balance caps.

The flexibility SMSFs enjoy starts with the fund’s name. In theory, an SMSF can be called anything the trustees like. But practically speaking, what are the issues to be considered?