It is widely understood that the status of a worker as an employee or independent contractor is based on a range of common law tests. Generally, where a worker contracts to achieve a result the relationship between the parties will be one of principal ... Read more

Fund administration and the role of the transfer agent sits at the heart of today's mutual fund industry. The transfer agent's fundamental role is to administer the register that records each investor's holding of units in a fund, providing a 'single ... Read more

Administration operations models in the Australian superannuation market are evolving. What funds want from their providers and what service providers can offer is changing. Read more

An important part of a fund's investment strategy is for trustees to consider diversification of assets. This can take place amongst different investment classes, but also within a particular investment class. Take for example real estate, which can ... Read more

Want to know whether superannuation should be paid to contractors? If you engage contractors, the cost of getting this wrong can be extremely high. Read more

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has recently published 'Regulation 8.02B and evidence to support real property valuations' which outlines its evidence approach and requirements for real property valuations. The approach elaborates but generally ... Read more

On 15 October 2020 the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) issued Practice Statement PS LA 2020/3 (Practice Statement), which provides guidelines in regard to penalties imposed under the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (the SIS Act) for ... Read more

An audit may seem a necessary evil, however, it's an opportunity for an overview of the status of your SMSF - an assessment of the fund's compliance as well as its overall health. Look at the annual audit as a medical check-up of your fund, which is ... Read more

The government's early release of superannuation scheme, introduced earlier this year and recently extended until 31 December 2020, has assisted millions of Australians to weather the economic effects of the COVID-19 crisis. Read more

ASIC's consultation paper on advice fee consents (CP 329 Implementing the Royal Commission recommendations: Advice fee consents and independence disclosure) was issued on 10 March 2020, around the time when many organisations were introducing bans on ... Read more