SMSF trustees

What you take on as a trustee

Every trustee, or every director of a corporate trustee, is responsible for the whole fund. A decision your co-trustee made without you is still yours. The Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 requires you to act honestly, in the best financial interests of all members, keep control of the fund yourself, and never let anyone reach their super before they are legally entitled to it.

Then there is the sole purpose test. The fund exists to pay retirement benefits to members, or death benefits if a member dies first. Holding a holiday unit the family uses, hanging the fund's artwork in your lounge room, or paying yourself for your work as trustee all fail it. A fund that fails can lose its tax concessions, and trustees can face penalties or disqualification.

The investment strategy

The law requires you to formulate an investment strategy, review it regularly and give effect to it. The ATO expects it in writing and written for your fund and its members. A downloaded template rarely is. It should cover risk and expected return, how diversified the fund is, whether it holds enough cash to pay expenses and benefits, and whether to hold insurance for each member. A range of 0 to 100 per cent for every asset class does not meet it.

If most of the fund sits in one property, the strategy should say you considered the concentration risk and explain why the investment still meets the members' goals. Review it at least once a year, and again when a member joins or leaves, or starts a pension. Minute the review; the auditor will ask for it.

The yearly cycle

The auditor must be independent, with no financial interest in the fund and no close personal or business relationship with its members or trustees. We prepare the accounts and answer the auditor's questions. We do not audit the funds we prepare. Due dates for funds lodging through a tax agent are on our key tax dates page.

Contributions and the 2026–27 caps

For 2026–27 the concessional contributions cap is $32,500. That covers employer contributions, salary sacrifice and personal contributions you claim as a deduction, across all your funds. If your total super balance was under $500,000 at the previous 30 June, unused cap from up to five earlier years can be carried forward.

The non-concessional cap is $130,000. It drops to nil for a year if your total super balance at the previous 30 June was at or above the general transfer balance cap, which is $2.1 million for 2026–27. People under 75 may be able to bring forward up to three years of non-concessional cap in one go, depending on their balance. The figures are on our tax and super facts page.

Property in the fund

An SMSF can own residential or commercial property if the trust deed and investment strategy allow it. A residential property cannot be bought from a member or a relative, and none of them can live in it or rent it, even at market rent. Business real property, meaning land and buildings used wholly and exclusively in a business, is the exception: the fund can buy it from a related party at market value and lease it to your business at market rent. Income from a dealing that is not at arm's length can be taxed at the top marginal rate.

SMSFs generally cannot borrow. The main exception is a limited recourse borrowing arrangement, where the asset sits in a separate holding trust and the lender can only claim that asset on default. The law changed on 10 August 2026. A new LRBA used to buy real property can now only buy business real property, and the property must stay that way for the life of the loan. Loans already in place, refinances of them, and purchases where the fund exchanged a binding contract before that date are not affected.

A fund can still buy a residential rental with its own money. Before any LRBA the ATO recommends advice from a licensed professional. Whether a particular property suits your fund is a question for a licensed financial adviser; we can work through the tax.

Winding up

Funds are wound up when the trustees move overseas and the fund can no longer meet the residency rules, when a trustee no longer has the time or health to run it, when the trustees fall out, or when the fund cannot meet its running costs. The steps are the same whatever the reason. All trustees agree in writing. The assets are sold, or transferred to members where the deed and the release rules allow, with capital gains tax and stamp duty worked out first. Pensions are stopped and reported. Members who have met a condition of release can be paid out; everyone else rolls over to another complying fund.

Leave enough cash for the final audit and return. Once that return is processed the ATO cancels the fund's ABN, and a wound-up fund cannot be revived, so close the bank account last.

Working with us

We prepare the accounts and the annual return, track contributions against the caps, and coordinate with your auditor. Our fee is fixed and agreed before we start. If you are still deciding whether to set one up, read is an SMSF worth it? first. If you already run one, get in touch or fill in the new client form.