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

Decisions the ATO says to minute

• Every investment decision: why the investment was chosen, and whether all the trustees agreed. The ATO points out that if an investment fails, a trustee whose decision is recorded in minutes signed by the others can show they agreed.
• The investment strategy review: that it happened and what was decided. The ATO suggests the trustees’ annual meeting.
• A member taking a lump sum out of their pension (a commutation): documented when it’s requested, and recorded in the minutes.
• Releasing super early: that all the trustees agree the member has met a condition of release.

Trustees commonly minute other decisions too, such as appointing the auditor, starting a pension, receiving a death benefit nomination, and considering insurance for each member.

What a useful minute includes

• The date, and which trustees took part.
• The decision, in plain words.
• The reasons, and anything the trustees considered.
• Whether every trustee agreed.
• Signatures, if your deed or your auditor expects them.

Records to keep for at least 10 years

• The fund’s trust deed.
• Minutes of trustee meetings and decisions.
• The investment strategy and its reviews, including how insurance for members was considered.
• Records of every change of members and trustees.
• Trustee declarations for anyone who became a trustee (or director of a corporate trustee) after 30 June 2007.
• Members’ written consent to be trustees.
• Copies of all reports given to members.
• Decisions about storing collectables and personal-use assets.

Records to keep for at least 5 years

The fund’s accounting records and yearly financial statements, copies of its annual returns and the documents used to prepare them, copies of transfer balance account reports and other statements lodged, decisions about how each benefit was paid, and evidence that any early release of super met a condition of release.

How to keep them

Records must be in English. Electronic records are fine, as long as the ATO can check them and open them in a format it understands.

How SMSF Cockpit helps, and where it stops

The Trustee Minutes Log records numbered resolutions with the reasons for each. Once saved, a resolution can’t be edited or deleted, so the record of decisions can’t be rewritten later. To correct one, you add a new resolution. Every change anywhere in the fund is also recorded with who made it and when. The audit checklist’s readiness check looks for resolutions logged during the year, and your accountant can read them with view-only access.

What it doesn’t do: it doesn’t collect signatures, so if your deed or auditor wants signed minutes, sign a printed copy as well. It doesn’t enforce the 10-year period: if you delete the fund in the app, its records go with it, so keep your own copy. The Excel download includes every minute.