Ask Meg Heffron, customer head at Heffron, and she will tell you how corporate trustees are the way ahead. While it is true that 9 out of 10 SMSFs have individual trustees on board, it is truer that the figures will change dramatically towards corporate trustees in a short while. ATO’s powers to impose penalties have been revised further and this only augurs well for the lobbyists of corporate trusteeship for SMSFs. Let us find out how.
Corporate trustees
You will know how each individual trustee is liable to pay a fine levied on one. While with corporate trustees it is with them that the penalty ends. For instance, if an individual trustee is imposed a fine of $10,200 and there are 5 of them, the cumulative penalty comes up to $51,000. In case of a corporate trustee, this figure remains $10,200- the upper ceiling. For a SMSF with five trustees, you save a cool $40,800. Phew!
Penalty provisions
SMSF advisers will do well to recommend corporate trustees to their clients as norms and regulations pertaining to the ATO may be increasingly bent in their favour in the future. Penalty provisions work better in case of corporate trustees but this is not the only bit of good news. By having corporate trustees you also curb the confusion that enfolds when an individual trustee dies or exits or enters the scene.
Change in names on assets
Protocols related to name-changing can be arduous and may take a good amount of time and money. With corporate trustees on board, the show simply goes on without a hiccup. I can personally vouch for SMSFs where inefficient alterations of names on assets have resulted in ongoing breaches and subsequent penalties.
If you have an SMSF investment in mind or are willing to be informed about its various protocols or emerging trends, get in touch with us. We will be more than glad to assist you.
