When you roll over your super to your SMSF, you can make the most of your retirement fund. Plus, you have the choice to transfer your entire balance or a part of it—it’s entirely up to you. Either way, you get to decide how to invest your retirement funds into the right assets.
Why Roll Over Your Super to Your SMSF
If you’re still unsure whether to roll over your super to your SMSF, here are a couple of reasons many Australians have already made the switch:
You’re in control of your fund.
When you have a self-managed super fund or SMSF, you are completely in control of your investment choices. That is a stark contrast to a retail or industry super fund, where the fund experts solely decide on the contributions you make.
With SMSF, you can choose to invest as aggressively or conservatively as you’d like. You can choose to invest in cash, bond, shares or property. And if you’re unsure where or how to start, you can turn to a qualified professional who can help set up your SMSF and advise you on appropriate investment strategies. But at the end of the day, you’re in control of your fund.
You can enjoy several tax benefits.
There are potential tax benefits to running an SMSF. The minimum tax rate on SMSF contributions is 30%, and if you make personal concessional contributions, your fund will only have to deal with 15% tax. Also, capital gains tax is only 10% on assets held for longer than a year, and earnings during your pension phase are not taxable.
How to Roll Over Your Super to Your SMSF
Have you decided to transfer your super to your SMSF? The process is straightforward. You only need to take the following steps to get the rollover off to a great start:
1. Check if your SMSF is ready to go.
Before doing anything else, you have to make sure your SMSF is ready to accept your super contributions. That means it needs to be fully set up and registered with the ATO. An SMSF professional can help ensure the setup process is smooth, easy and fast for you.
2. Verify if you’re an SMSF member.
Once you’ve ensured your SMSF is ready to go, the next thing to check is whether you’re a member of your SMSF. Verify your membership by checking the ATO website. If there have been any changes to the member details of your SMSF, you will have to notify the ATO.
3. Fill out and submit your rollover request form.
You have to let your industry or retail super fund know that you plan to transfer your entire fund balance into your SMSF. So make sure to go to your super fund’s website to retrieve the form and read the instructions on how and where to send the form. Alternatively, you can complete the ATO’s standard form.
4. Let your super fund does the rest.
Once your rollover request has been approved, your retail or industry super fund will transfer your entire balance into your SMSF. You may have to wait for around three days before the funds will be completely transferred into your nominated SMSF.
If you’re only considering partial super rollovers, you may want to speak with an SMSF professional. They can guide you on how you can keep both accounts active and roll over only a portion of your super balance into your SMSF. Nevertheless, rolling over your super (even just a portion of it) to your SMSF is a huge step to leveraging your super to boost your retirement plan.
