With Tax Practitioner Board Breach (TPB) Reporting already upon us and further Code of Conduct obligations to be implemented, it seems like a good time to contemplate exactly what makes a sound SMSF Service offering.
What ends up being considered “significant” when the final TPB Breach Reporting guidance is released is secondary to the fact that after decades of servicing SMSFs, maybe there are just some areas that it is about time the SMSF industry did better.
Here are some ways you can provide a better SMSF Service to your SMSF clients:
Take care of all the steps or documents required
Your SMSF Service might utilise many online systems and offerings. Sometimes, those offerings don’t include all the steps or documents required.
Having a better understanding of what is required by the law beats blindly following online provider systems and giving your SMSF clients an ineffective or uncertain outcome.
Attend to important steps in the required order
Sometimes what is required by the law is just more onerous than what is otherwise convenient.
A better SMSF Service is one where each requirement is attended to in the required order.
Utilising digital signing (where the law allows), is one way to provide the convenience you need to do this better.
Set your service up so you can lodge documents on time
Utilising functionality such as data feeds in the systems you use can help you ensure that your SMSF clients documents are lodged on time. It also helps to continually educate your SMSF clients about what events they need to notify you about and their lodgement timeframes.
Arrange documents prospectively
Important SMSF events, like lump sum payments, starting pensions and pension commutations don’t happen every day.
Take the time to communicate with clients so that you know well ahead of time when these types of events are planned to occur. You then have time to put in place documentation prospectively and give your SMSF clients the comfort of knowing that these documents will stand up to legal and/or regulatory scrutiny.
Avoid document templates
If you are not a lawyer, you probably don’t know if that online Binding Death Benefit Template meets the requirements of your SMSF client’s Trust Deed.
Utilising an actual lawyer with an integrated document platform gives your SMSF client’s the comfort that the outcome they are seeking can be achieved by the documents you help put in place for them.
Getting the numbers right
There are now plenty of measured limits in SMSFs and they are only set to increase with Division 296. Having all the appropriate documents to support the financial accounts will be vital to help with your SMSF planning and it can also speed up the audit process.
As Keep It Simple Super we have spent over 15 years helping Financial Advisers and Accountant deliver exceptional SMSF services to their clients. Keeping your clients happy and coming back each year is our goal. Book a discovery call with one of our team to see if we can help you create the perfect SMSF service for your business - Click here
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