Increase in SMSF wind ups – leads to partnership between CareSuper and Crowe Horwath

The increase in demand for winding up SMSFs has lead to a partnership between one of Australia’s leading not-for-profit superannuation funds – CareSuper and one of Australia’s largest accounting and financial advisory firms Crowe Horwath.

Winding up Self Managed Super Fund’s (SMSF’s) is becoming an increasing trend with the ATO releasing figures stating that in 2012/2013 – 7653 people shut down their SMSF.

The partnership between CareSuper and Crowe Horwath will allow CareSuper members to fast track the wind up of their already established Self Managed Super Fund’s (SMSF’s).

According to CareSuper CEO – Julie Lander running an SMSF can be a costly and time-consuming exercise that people have not understood prior to setting them up and that closing an SMSF can be a very labor-intensive and technical process.

“Lots of people have set up an SMSF thinking that they will relish the control they have over their investments, but they have reported to us that they were not aware of the time associated with compliance requirements and the ongoing costs at the time of establishing the SMSF,” Ms. Lander said.

“The procedure of closing an SMSF is very drawn out, you have to notify the ATO, liquidate or transfer all the assets of the fund, arrange a final audit of your fund, lodge your SMSF annual return and finalise any outstanding tax liabilities. Our new partnership with Crowe Horwath – means this process will be seamless for CareSuper members and handled in one simple step, ” she added.

The increasing trend of winding up an SMSF has been growing due to several reasons:

– Investment performance may not be what it was perceived to be,
– Time poor consumers realise that the compliance requirements are too onerous and they are better off having it managed by experts,
– The circumstances of the fund member or members have changed due to ill health, death or divorce,
– If in pension mode, the assets may be decreased to a level where the ongoing costs of the SMSF mean that it is no longer viable.

Susie Salmon – Head of Self Managed Super Funds at Crowe Horwath is thrilled about the partnership and says that the unique affiliation will be a great resource for CareSuper.

“We are extremely excited about this partnership. There are clients where an SMSF is not appropriate for their circumstances and this offer should be available to them.  We believe the SMSF Wind Up service will be of high value to CareSuper,” she said.

The partnership between CareSuper and Crowe Horwath is the first commercial arrangement of its kind.