You might not be in a position to manage your self-managed super fund any more. Contrarily, you may have found it more practicable to move to foreign shores for two years or more. If such be the cases, you may find it very difficult to keep running your SMSF. Here are options you might consider.
Legal Personal Representative
If management is the major concern, you can go ahead and appoint a Legal Personal Representative (LPR). While this professional can take care of your SMSF in your prolonged absence via an enduring power of attorney, he may not be able to help if you have turned bankrupt. Also, these are people on whom you are vesting total control (and power of attorneys can go so utterly wrong at times!) so it is important that you figure out at length who might be the right person for the job.
LPRs can follow an independent line of thinking
Remember, these are professionals who work with the single-minded intent of safeguarding your SMSF and maximizing its profit but they are well within their rights to follow an independent line of thinking. Put another way, they are in no way bound to follow your instructions.
Protocols of winding up SMSF
May be you have decided to let go of the ‘self-managed’. If you are good with the condition of release, you can take out all the money from your SMSF. Alternately, you can also transfer the amount to some other compliant fund. Winding up is not a difficult process but can be a time taking one. You might have to seriously look into a few protocols if you intend to wind up your SMSF.
Look into deed and liabilities carefully
As a first, get your deed thoroughly examined and call for a trustee meeting. If there is a specific way of winding-up already stipulated in the deed, follow its particulars. Furnish all the present and future liabilities (these may include tax liabilities, CGT event, among others).
Make sure that you have refunded franking credits (read dividend imputation). Conduct arm’s length transactions for disposing off assets and include a CGT event for the sale.
Notify ATO and wait for ABN cancellation
If you have wound up your fund, bring it to the notice of the ATO within 28 days of doing so. Deregister your corporate trustee (if any) and close the bank account related to your SMSF. Wait for the ATO’s formal cancellation of your ABN. Once it gives you the cancellation in writing, you will be done with the winding up bit.
