Articles by

Garth McNally

Garth has worked in the Australian Superannuation industry for over 20 years with a specific focus on self-managed super funds. He provides ongoing support and training to individuals as well as to professionals working in the superannuation area, including advisers, accountants and lawyers. He is a regular contributor to industry publications and to the leading professional bodies including Chartered Accountants Australia & New Zealand (CA ANZ).

Q&A: What happens if I start a pension and gains push the balance over the transfer balance cap?

6 May 2023

Q: If I set up a pension phase with the maximum $1.7 million transfer balance cap, what would happen if one of the investments in that portion made a significant capital gain, pushing the balance over $1.7 million?

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SMSFs and non-arm’s-length income (NALI)

1 May 2023

Non-arm’s length income is coming under increased scrutiny by the Tax Office and penalties can be steep, so it pays to understand how to stay on the right side of the law.

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SMSF investing: An adviser’s insight into mFunds

1 May 2023

There’s more than one way to invest in managed funds, including these actively managed listed funds that can be bought and sold as easily as shares.

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SMSFs and property: Business real property

1 May 2023

In Part 2 of our series on SMSFs and property investment, we look at the pros and cons of holding business property in your fund.

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Webinar: Year-end superannuation tips and traps

29 April 2023

Year-end strategies and procedures to get the best outcomes from your superannuation before the end of the 2022-23 financial year.

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Q&A: Does a property owned by an SMSF need to be sold upon retirement or can we take possession?

28 April 2023

We have a real estate property in our SMSF that is rented out and passes the sole purpose test. Our fund is only two members, my wife and I. When we retire, does an asset like this need to be liquidated, or could the members take possession of the property?
Q&A: Can I receive my deceased spouse’s accumulation death benefit in a pension income stream?

28 April 2023

If a fund has two members (both in accumulation) and one dies, can the surviving spouse receive the deceased spouse’s super by a death benefit pension income stream?

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Q&A: I’m 60. What happens to my super when I wind up my SMSF?

28 April 2023

You certainly won’t be able to actually close or what we call wind up your SMSF until all the member’s benefits which are held within the fund have actually been dealt with.

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Q&A: What should we have in place for when an individual trustee of an SMSF passes away?

28 April 2023

What I need to highlight here, is we’re looking at individual trustees and not a company acting as trustee. We’ve got two individual trustees.

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Q&A: What to consider if a director of a corporate trustee of a single member SMSF resigns

28 April 2023

There are lots of things that we need to consider. What I’ve given you here is the actual rules which are contained within the superannuation legislation.

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Q&A: I’m over 75. Can I make a super contribution?

22 April 2023

The key here is the age restriction on making contributions to super. Really, from age 75, the only real contributions that can be made to super are what we call downsizer contributions.

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Q&A: How can you reduce inheritance tax if you leave your super to your children?

22 April 2023

This is something that we all want to know, right? We want to make sure that if we leave money to our kids, that they don’t get hit with tax on that money.

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Q&A: Can I contribute to a grandchild’s super account?

21 April 2023

Am I allowed to put money from my savings into my granddaughter’s super account?

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Q&A: Can you make super contributions when you work overseas?

14 April 2023

Non-residents can make super contributions, but check with the fund around their rules.

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Q&A: How much can I contribute in year 4 of a bring-forward period?

14 April 2023

If you contribute $30,000 short in the first three years, then in year four, are you able to contribute after tax of $110,000 plus the $30,000 short for all from years one to three?

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Q&A: Do SMSFs perform better than industry funds?

14 April 2023

This is difficult to answer because when you are comparing the performance of an industry fund to the performance of a self-managed super fund, it’s difficult to compare like for like.
Q&A: Can I withdraw a lump sum after I start a pension?

6 April 2023

Once the super account is a pension account, can a lump sum be withdrawn, say, after one year of receiving a pension from it?

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Q&A: How can I recontribute my pension payments back into my super?

6 April 2023

When I receive payments from an account-based pension, I know I can put some back to my accumulation account. How is the amount put back treated? Is it a non-concessional or a concessional contribution?

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