Once you have decided to set up an SMSF, you will need to:
- decide what Trustee structure to use for your SMSF – individual Trustees (up to 6 individuals) or a Corporate Trustee
- have at least 2 Trustees in the Fund as an ATO requirement
- make sure that you and other Members in the Fund are eligible to be a Trustee of an SMSF
- consider the residency status of all Members in your SMSF so the SMSF will be compliant and can receive tax concessions.
Structuring your SMSF
For your Fund to be a compliant SMSF, it needs to meet several requirements under the Superannuation Legislation. The requirements are different depending on the Trustee structure of the Fund:
If your SMSF has a Corporate Trustee, it is an SMSF if all of the following applies:
- It has four or less Members
- Each Member of the Fund is a director of the company
- Each director of the Corporate Trustee is a Member of the SMSF
- No Member is an employee of another Member, unless they are related
- The Corporate Trustee is not paid for its services as a Trustee
- No director of the Corporate Trustee is paid for their duties or services as director in relation to the Fund
If you have a Corporate Trustee for a single Member Fund, the Member needs to be one of the following:
- The sole director of the Trustee company
- One of only two directors, that is either related to the other director / not an employee of the other director
You can also have two individual Trustees. One Trustee needs to be a Member and the other needs to be one of the following:
- A person related to the Member
- Any other person who does not employe them
The ATO also has a good video explaining in details on the structure of Trustees that an SMSF can adopt, please see below.
SMSF – Type of Trustees
To be a Member and Trustee of the Fund, you will need to complete a Member Application form and Trustee Consent. For our template, please click on the button below:
