Member Update - full news - December 2018

As we bring 2018 to a close, it provides us with an opportunity to reflect on what has been a busy and rewarding year with plenty of wonderful achievements.  Having started the year with the enormous task of re-branding The SMSF Academy to Smarter SMSF, it has been a truly satisfying year in what we've been able to achieve, most importantly driven by you, our members.

Below is a list of achievements in 2018:

• Nearly doubled the number of available documents on the platform, now with 60+ documents available online
• Had over 150 attendees to our SMSF Day events around Australia in April
• Created the 2018 Future of SMSF Report, with a record number 488 respondents.
• Recently added our new 'Create Comply' product - unlicensed accountant letters
• Finalising moving the BGL & Class integration into the existing order forms
• Several enhancements to learning platform & CPD register
• Built 'one click' push to CAS360 for company incorporation's and push document orders to Simple Fund 360
• Built 'one click' setup in Class after ordering a new SMSF
• Finalised shopping cart within the platform for multi-product purchases.
• Created a new knowledge base, linked to our HelpScout ticketed support
• Launched our support product, including tracking of support tickets and time tracking
• Improvement to user profiles, including changes to credit cards, viewing/changing subscription details, etc

This page is consistent with our new Create Comply page for our unlicensed accountant letters and will also be updating to a similar page with all of the existing training.

Documents Update

• Pension Deed of Affirmation and Confirmation - insufficient or missing pension documentation appears as a common occurrence and the recent Qld case of Naurmon further highlights the importance of this documentation in the context of dealing with the member's death benefit.  We have now drafted this new Pension Deed and will look to add online for use in the coming weeks.  The purpose of this Deed is to formally state or restate the terms and conditions of the pension based upon the knowledge and understanding of trustee(s) and member. 
• Reversionary options for pensions - we are making amendments to the reversionary options of a new and existing income stream to incorporate a level of reversion that provides for a percentage (i.e. 100%) or dollar amount ($), along with amounts up to a surviving members transfer balance cap.  The decisions around the level of reversion will be subject to the level of certainty of flexibility required by the member and beneficiary.  In addition to updating these changes in the pension commencement documents, we will also be incorporating these options into the add/remove reversionary beneficiary should you wish to make changes to an existing pension without commutation and repurchase being required.
• Unit Trust Deed - we have already made solid progress with the forms and document templates for unit trusts and expect to have this document available in beta later in January.  
• Discretionary Trusts - we have recently had a barrister settle this document at the Victorian Bar to ensure that in bringing this new document online will provide the most up-to-date deed deed, consistent with how we deliver our SMSF documents to you.
• Bare Trust & Loan Facility Agreement - it has been a recurring task to split these two documents into separate orders for some time, however we've been somewhat reluctant to make changes given the potential short shelf life of LRBAs.  There was some reprieve recently by the Council of Financial Regulators in conducting a review for Government recently, however, the threat of a Labor Government looking to repeal this legislation if elected still exists.  We will be looking at making these updates following implementation of the above, but watching Government very closely in respect to this topic.

Training & Events

For our learn members, the following training has been added to the platform to access over the past few months:

• Changing Face of SMSF (December)
• Launch of Create Comply product
• Understanding the role of a Fund Member's Guardian
• Changing Face of SMSF (October)
• Insights into the Future of SMSF