Madgwicks Lawyers’ self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) advisory is an integral part of the wealth management services offered to our private clients.
Our superannuation team is experienced in structuring and implementing integrated wealth management and protection strategies for SMSFs as well as considering and restructuring broader family group or taxation structures incorporating discretionary and unit trusts.
Our Lawyers work closely with your financial planner or accountant to ensure that the best outcome is achieved; ensuring our recommended strategies are consistent with your personal and financial goals and optimising the tax and insurance outcomes.
Services
Advisory Services
- Advice on undertaking property development involving self-managed superannuation funds, including related party developers and agency agreements
- Contribution, benefit and pension strategies in light of changes to superannuation and tax laws, and ensuring relevant conditions of release are satisfied.
- Making deductible and spouse contributions and the associated requirements, as well as managing excess contributions
- Superannuation issues on the breakdown of relationship and divorce, including documenting superannuation splits under binding financial agreements and court orders
- Advising fund structure, including residency requirements and situations where a member has lost capacity
- Bankruptcy and asset protection strategies to protect superannuation benefits
- Winding up self managed superannuation funds, including advising on ATO requirements
- Advising on directors penalty notice issues arising from failure to make superannuation contributions
- Advice on complex company and unit trust arrangements involving related and unrelated parties, as well as pre-1999 unit trusts
- Advising on fund succession issues, including successor director strategies and managing complex issues arising within blended families
- Deductibility of insurance premiums and taxation of insurance proceeds, including strategies to maximise the tax free component of insurance proceeds on death
Establishment and Administration Services
- Establishing and varying fund deeds, including advising on and addressing misplaced fund deeds
- Limited recourse borrowing arrangements that comply with superannuation, tax and trust laws
- Appointing and removing fund trustees, as well as preparing enduring powers of attorney (financial) and appointing trustees where members are residing overseas
- Preparing and advising on binding death benefit nominations, including complex cascading nominations, and the establishment of non-commutable pensions payable to eligible superannuation dependents
- Preparing the documents to record the payment of account based pensions and market-linked income streams, as well as reversionary pensions and non-commutable pensions, and the commutation of pensions
- Advising on and preparing superannuation proceeds trusts to ensure superannuation death benefits are quarantined for superannuation tax dependents, while ensuring the flexibility of a trust structure
- Preparing tailored unit trust deeds, unit holder agreements and shareholder agreements that are consistent with the requirements of superannuation law
Dispute Resolution Services
- Reviewing the fund history and document chain and advising on the payment of death benefits in dispute situations
- Liaising and negotiating with the ATO in relation to fund audits and voluntary disclosures where the fund has contravened superannuation and tax laws
- Representing fund trustees during in-house facilitations with the ATO
- Liaising with the ATO regarding employer superannuation obligations, including the superannuation guarantee charge and the distinction between employees and contractors for superannuation law purposes
- Advising on and objecting to ATO decisions to disqualify individuals as superannuation trustees
- Managing and advising fund trustees and members on death benefit disputes and the trustee’s superannuation and trust law requirements, including the trustee’s fiduciary obligations and strategies to prevent trustee discretion being challenged
