Change of SMSF Trustee

• A corporate trustee; or
• Two or more individual trustees (in which case the primary purpose of the fund must be the provision of old-age pensions).

• Sole member fund
• Individual Trustees – there must be two trustees: the sole member and one other person (the sole member must not be an employee of the other trustee unless they are relatives).
• Corporate Trustee – the sole member must be either:
  • The sole director of the Corporate Trustee; or
  • One of a maximum of two directors of the company (the sole member must not be an employee of the other director, unless they are relatives).
• Multiple member fund
  • Individual Trustees: all members must be trustees and each trustee must be a member of the fund.
  • Corporate Trustee: each member must be a director of the Corporate Trustee and each director must be a member of the fund.

Certain people are prohibited by SIS from being a trustee or a director of a trustee company of a regulated superannuation fund. Briefly, a person can not be a trustee, or a director of a trustee company, if:

• They are an undischarged bankrupt;
• They have ever been convicted of an offence involving dishonesty (no matter where or when that offence was committed); or
• They have committed a serious breach of the SIS Act (resulting in a civil penalty order).The people who are proposed to be the trustees or the directors of the trustee company must sign a Consent to Act or a Declaration of Director form before being appointed as a trustee or director (we provide the forms).The form requires the person to confirm that they are not disqualified from acting as a trustee or as a director of a trustee company of a superannuation fund for the above reasons. It is essential that the proposed trustees or directors consider their position.

  A parent or guardian can act as a trustee or director for a child under 18 years old who is a member..

• Removal of most of the risk of personal liability which individual trustees are exposed to.
• No need to incur the cost of transferring assets to the new trustees or changing names on investments and bank accounts when there is a change in members and therefore a change in trustees.
• Control of the fund is more certain in circumstances of death or incapacity of key members.
• While a corporate trustee is more expensive to set up at the outset, there are costs savings later, for example the ASIC annual statement fee is lower for a company whose sole purpose is to act as trustee of a SMSF ($54 compared to the usual $267 for a proprietary company).