Understand how to assign assets during SMSF setup and the requirement for legal ownership to be in the fund’s name.

Assigning assets

To legally establish your self-managed super fund (SMSF), you must have:

• trustees
• beneficiaries
• a trust deed
• assets set aside for the benefit of members.

If a rollover, transfer or contribution is expected in the near future, a nominal amount (for example, $10) can be held with the trust deed. This amount is regarded as a contribution and must be allocated to a member.

You need to properly document contributions and rollovers including the:

• amount
• type
• breakdown of components.

Contributions and rollovers must be allocated to the members’ accounts within 28 days of the end of the month in which you received them.

Ownership of your fund’s assets

As trustee you must protect the SMSF’s investments in a way that clearly shows legal ownership by the fund and separate from any other personal or business asset and investments.

The assets can’t be held in the name of a trustee or member as an individual. Depending on your fund’s structure, fund assets should be held in the name of either:

• the individual trustees ‘as trustees for’ the fund, for example ‘Bill and Penny Jones as trustees for the Jones Family Super Fund’
• the corporate trustee ‘as trustee for’ the fund, for example ‘ABC Pty Ltd as trustee for the Jones Family Super Fund’.

For more information on ownership of your fund’s assets, see Ownership of SMSF investments.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comment section. We will be happy to answer all your queries.