Estate Planning Awareness
As the old saying goes the only sure things in life are death and taxes. What it doesn’t say is that with the right planning you can reduce those taxes applicable to your estate.
In the United States they have identified this planning need, and from 19th to 25th of October they are staging Estate Planning Awareness Week, a joint initiative between the Lawyers and CPA’s. This week is a media awareness campaign to highlight the need for proper advice in estate planning and administration. From our experience this type of initiative should also be adopted here in Australia.
To this end we are seeking support from the Law Society and the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia to implement a similar public awareness campaign. Further to this, we have prepared a Guide to Estate Planning and Administration for our clients to use.
FIND OUT MORE
Predictions and realities for the new financial year – What you need to know in 2011/2012
It’s a new financial year and with it comes a series of changes and challenges. The central message for the new financial year is ‘cash is king’ and will remain so for some time to come.
While the economy is performing well, consumers are wary about parting with their cash. Part of the problem is that around 50% of Australia’s growth is coming from 10% of the economy. For the rest of the economy, petrol prices are high, interest rates are likely to rise, and the rate of debt default is at record highs.
Consumer sentiment shows that no one really feels as secure as the headline economic data indicates so discounting and long decision making processes are likely to continue.
For business, take the ‘cash is king’ message to heart. Some very high profile and established businesses have dissolved recently so stick to your trading terms and watch your debtors or you may be caught out by someone else’s problem.
Knowing what assets your Self Managed Superannuation Fund (SMSF) can own is an important part of being a fund trustee. You should also know what assets your fund can acquire from you or related parties.
New rules recently introduced may give more scope for your SMSF to borrow funds to acquire these assets but there are unique rules and guidelines that need to be adhered to.
As the trustees of your SMSF, you need to ensure that all assets held in the fund are consistent with the fund’s investment strategy. That is, as trustee you need to consider issues such as risk and return, diversification of the fund’s assets, liquidity within the fund, and of course, the ability of the fund to discharge liabilities.
Here are the common questions we’re often asked about borrowing in SMSFs:
FIND OUT MORE
Superannuation pension relief extended
At the start of the financial crisis in 2008, the Government announced that they would halve the minimum pension payment amount – that is the minimum amount of pension that you have to take from your superannuation fund. This concession was extended through to the 2009 financial year. The Government recently announced that they will again reduce the minimum pension amount for the 2010/2011 financial year.
In practice what this means is that if you are say 65 years of age on 1 July and receive an account based pension from your superannuation fund, the minimum you have to withdraw is 2.5% of the account balance (instead of 5%). The continued relief means that retirees do not have to sell investments at an inopportune time simply to comply with the regulations.
FIND OUT MORE
2010/2011 Need to Know – Honeymoon over for SMSF
Over the last 12 months there has been a myriad of new interpretations and legislative tinkering to ensure that no one can take their superannuation early or use it for a purpose other than retirement. The key things to watch out for are:
- Any scheme or plan that allows you to take your superannuation early.
- Make sure that you know what you can contribute to your super and how much you can contribute. If you accidently put too much into your fund, you cannot simply take it back out. If you have a salary sacrifice agreement in place, make sure you review it for any salary changes so you don’t breach the caps.
- Make sure any actions you take are allowed by your trust deed. If you have not updated your trust deed lately you may not be able to take advantage of some options currently available. If it’s not in the deed, you can’t do it!
Loading ...
