Your SMSF’s trust deed is its rulebook. If the deed does not allow or recognise something then the trustees can’t do it. Despite this, a lot of trustees are unaware of what their trust deed says – it was just something that was required when the fund was established. The problem with any document is that unless you amend it, it is only current for the circumstances that existed at that time. However, the law changes regularly and so do individual circumstances. 

This month, we shortcut the review process and highlight the key SMSF trust deed problem areas.