Live & Online Events

Festive season office hours

  • Friday 6 December – closed for staff Christmas party
  • noon Friday 20 December – closed until
  • 9am Monday 6 January 2025 – open for business as usual

12:30pm AEDT Thurs 5 Dec – FREE online Q&A with Cass – click here to join or enter Meeting ID 440 195 792 997 Passcode Cz6eH7Wk

8pm AEDT Mon 16 DecAinslie Bullion & Banter (register here)

12:30pm AEDT Thurs 16 Jan – FREE online Q&A with Cass – click here to join or enter Meeting ID 462 500 612 451 Passcode SmrGWX

*all times AEDT (Canberra time)

When you set up a self-managed super fund (SMSF) you can choose one of two ‘trustee’ structures: individual or corporate. 

Which is ‘better’? That’s up to you. Most of our SMSF clients choose corporate for the following reasons

  • single member SMSFs are allowed
  • easy to add/remove members as needed (such as with separation or death)
  • greater borrowing capacity and/or better interest rates are often offered when borrowing to invest in property
  • asset protection (SMSFAdvisor article discusses this in more detail)
  • ATO penalties are applied collectively to the one corporate entity, rather than to each individual trustee
  • (SMSFAdvisor article discusses this in more detail).

As for personal trustee structure, some clients choose it because

  • a Directors Identification Number is not needed
  • no annual ASIC renewal or registered agent fees are required 
  • no annual ASIC paperwork is needed,

However, individual trustees must be aware that

  • trustee changes can be costly and time-consuming, and
  • in the case of death, a two-member only SMSF will become immediately non-compliant.

For a more detailed comparison of the differences, refer here to the ATO website.