Guides for SMSF trustees

• When does a binding death benefit nomination expire?

  Whether an SMSF member’s binding nomination lapses after three years depends on the fund’s trust deed. What that means, and what to check.

• SMSF minimum pension: how the percentage works

  How the yearly minimum payment from an account-based pension is worked out: the percentages by age, a mid-year start, and rounding.

• Reviewing your SMSF investment strategy

  What the strategy has to cover, how often the ATO expects it to be reviewed, and what record of the review your auditor will want to see.

• What goes in the SMSF audit pack

  The annual audit rules, the deadlines for appointing the auditor and answering their questions, and the documents auditors commonly ask for.

• SMSF trustee minutes: what to record and how long to keep them

  Which decisions the ATO says to minute, what a useful minute includes, and the records every SMSF must keep for 5 and 10 years.

• When is the SMSF annual return due?

  The due dates if you lodge yourself or through a tax agent, why the audit has to be finished first, and what happens if the return is late.

• SMSF insurance: considering cover for each member

  Why trustees must consider insurance for every member, which kinds of cover an SMSF can hold, and what to record about the decision.

• SMSF asset valuations: what evidence the auditor looks for

  Trustees value the fund’s assets at market value each year. What counts as supporting evidence for property and for unlisted shares and units, and how close to 30 June it should be.

• SMSF corporate trustee: directors, ASIC and the records to keep

  How an SMSF with a company as trustee works: who must be a director, the director ID, telling the ATO within 28 days and ASIC, the company’s yearly ASIC review, and how assets are titled.

Also useful: the trustee’s year at a glance, a checklist of the yearly tasks, and the SMSF glossary, which explains the terms.

These guides are general information only. They’re not financial, tax or legal advice, and they don’t consider your fund’s circumstances. SMSF Cockpit doesn’t lodge anything with the ATO, and it doesn’t track your investments, prices or cash balances.