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So you've decided to join the business sector and already pride yourself on the strategies you've carefully planned regarding the location, equipment, costs, profits, as well as investments you make with the products you manufacture, sell or supply - congratulations!

How to Lodge an Smsf Annual Return

Once you employ your assets in the super fund, the natural thing to expect is to see the gains at the end of the year. Following all ATO regulations and rules, the timing for lodging your smsf annual return will vary depending on when did you register your fund.

If this is your fund's first year of existance and functioning, the due date for lodging an annual return would be the 28^th of February. If not the case, with good lodgement record and supporting documentation you'd be able to file for lodging your annual gain on the 15^th of May.

The date changes if you decide to lodge your annual return without the assistance of your chosen agent. In this case, if it's the first year of existance of your fund, the due date for lodging would be the 31^st of October. For all subsequent years it changes to the 28^th of February.

Once you have the calendar all organized, you should start preparing your documentation for the lodge. First you should know that the annual return from your smsf investment is not an income tax return. The smsf annual return is more than that and as such it happens after the audit of the fund has been finalised. Also, before you're able to lodge, all super regulatory information should be reported, member contributions should be made and supervisory levy should be paid.

The procedure for lodging annual smsf return is very precisely determined and organized. If you have an agent taking care of these things (which is always the better option having in mind all the financial and accounting terms and rules you have to master in order to be a profesional), then the agent will tell you exactly when are you suppose to file all supporting documentation for lodging a return. That presumably, that the audit has already been done. In that case, you're only responsible for gathering all information and documentation needed and delivering them to your agent by the time he asked you to.

If you're handling the fund on your own, without an agent, than have in mind that you need to complete the entire documentation along with the audited financial reports and tax accounting and make sure they're orderly sent to the ATO before due date for lodging. That's because in that particular situation, the ATO will have to scan and review your documentation in case something is missing or not done correctly to be fixed. Have in mind that there are special rules and obligations for super lodgement and therefore, special penalties if you miss a deadline or have done something inapropriate and didn't fix it after being asked to.

All in all, unless you're holding a degree in accounting and financial matters, it's highly advisable to allow a professional to do all the job for the smsf annual return lodgement. You'd be rest assured your affairs have been handled in the right manner and be freed of responsibility if something goes wrong, which is hardly possible (after all, professionals know their job, right?).

Data Cleansing Explained

Data cleansing or clearing is the process of detecting and removing or correcting inaccurate or corrupt records from a record set, database or table. It's used mainly in databases and the term refers to identifying incorrect, inaccurate, irrelevant or incomplete parts of the data and then correcting, modifying, deleting or replacing this data. Data cleansing can be performed with scripts, data wrangling tools or through a batch process.

Benefits of Hiring a Debt Advisory Provider

Wondering a new investment choice? Planning to launch a new service or product but don't know the best way of funding your new project? As many know, managing a business, big or small, alone is not an easy task – especially when you are short of resources, time and budget. You've tried going into so many directions that you can't afford to waste any more money or time on the wrong investment. Hiring the services of a debt advisory company may seem like out of the question in such situation, but it is actually the best thing you can do. Dept advisory companies are companies with a broad experience in financial business matters that can help you select the right funding choice.

The Importance of Succession Planning Explained

Succession planning is a vital part of any business, no matter how certain its future appears. You may think that you don't need it when everything seems to be going well, but what about if your top employees left your company tomorrow to join a competitor or a member of your senior management team decides to start his/her own business. Before you find yourself in that situation you should create a succession planning for your business. Below are few more reasons to get you convinced.

Manage Your Self-Managed Super Funds With A Professional

A Self Managed Superfund is a trust fond in which investments are held and managed by its members with the purpose to provide benefits to fund themselves when they retire. Many people crave the control that comes with setting up an SMSF. However, what you should not forget is that having control over finances brings tons of workload and responsibilities.

That is why if you are not sure whether you are qualified enough to do it yourself and can handle the burden that comes along as a trustee, the smartest thing to do is to hire a professional to help you manage your Self Managed Superfund.

There are some rules and regulations the Australian Taxation Office imposes that you have to follow. The Self Managed Superfund is easy to set up but there are a lot of paperwork and it takes time to figure things out. The SMSF must be compliant with the trust deed as well as all the laws and rules by the ATO that apply to SMSF. You should know that the regulations are strict so it would be a great idea to hire an SMSF professional to help you set up your fund.

The SMSF professionals have experience in the entire process as well as the laws and regulations that apply to your Superfund. Therefore, the job of these experts is to make sure that your fund is compliant with any of the regulations set by the ATO.

Most SMSF professionals offer more services within one office so you will not have to go form one company to another, gathering information on how to set up a Self Managed Superfund to suit your needs.

You can appoint SMSF professionals such as accountants and financial advisers.

• A tax agent can help you prepare the accounts of your fund, its annual financial position and operating statements, complete your SMSF and provide tax advice and represent you in your deals; 

• A legal practitioner can prepare and update the trust deed of your Superfund;

• A financial adviser can help you create your investment strategy;

• A fund administrator can help you manage the running of your fund and meet your administrative obligations and annual reporting.

All of these services need licenses and specific skills, which probably you do not posses. SMSF professionals have most or all of these skills and qualifications, so they are able to tailor your super fund according to your needs.

SMSF: Super Fund Audit Explained

If you are running a self-managed super fund, you are one of those people who have recognized its benefits on time and started saving money for the retirement days in the best possible way. Setting up a self-managed super fund is very easy and simple; you meet the requirements, learn how to set it up and complete the process. But before you set up an smsf, you must know all your responsibility as an owner of the fund. One of those responsibilities is to ensure your super fund is audited once per year by a licensed auditor.

Self-managed super fund audit involves an approved auditor conducting a compliance and financial audit of your super fund. The financial audit involves the auditor examining your financial statement, while the compliance audit is about ensuring that your SMSF is compliant with all the superannuation rules. When SMSFs are in accordance with their own investment systems, they allow you to buy property. However, not many SMSFs are completely in accordance, because until 2007 they were not able to borrow. Since 1993, the Superannuation Industry Supervision Act demands SMSF trustees to have a super fund audit once per year by a licensed auditor.

The most frequently asked questions about super fund audit is “Can I conduct an audit for my fund?”. According to the ATO regulations, neither you nor any of your SMSF members can complete a super fund audit, because it would be a breach of ethical requirements (independence related). SMSF audits can be exclusively performed by approved and qualified auditors, experienced and knowledgeable in performing audits according to the law. If you want to become an approved SMSF auditor (but for auditing other super funds), you must:

• be an Australian resident;

• have enough practical experience;

• hold an education qualification;

• pass a competency testing;

To avoid fines by the Australian Taxation Office, keep yourself updated with all the legal and taxation obligations, whether you are the owner or a trustee of the fund. Indeed setting up an SMSF is easy, but handling it can be much more complicated. So, the increased number of Australians should not come as a surprise.

Most SMSF owners decide to hire a professional to help them out in handling their super funds. Preparing all the files required for a super fund audit is not easy. Moreover, they must comply with the SMSF regulations of the ATO. But professionals in auditing and handling SMSFs have no problems with anything related with these super funds. They are even able to discover all possible issues that might occur in near future. A well-performed super fund audit prevents bad investments and protects your money.