How much does SMSF Australia charge for annual SMSF accounting?

SMSF Australia offers three fixed-fee annual packages: Basic Fund at $1,300+GST (listed shares, managed funds, ETFs, term deposits), Complex Fund at $1,600+GST (adds direct property up to 2, cryptocurrency, precious metals), and Very Complex Fund from $2,000+GST (unlisted assets, private loans, derivatives, NFTs, 3+ properties). All packages include the independent SMSF audit at no additional cost.

Is the SMSF audit included in the annual fee?

Yes. The independent SMSF audit is included in all three annual fee packages — Basic, Complex, and Very Complex. It is not charged as a separate add-on.

Can SMSF Australia service my fund if I am not in the same state?

Yes. SMSF Australia operates nationally across all Australian states and territories. All client meetings and services are conducted via Zoom — there is no requirement to be near a physical office.

How much does it cost to set up an SMSF with SMSF Australia?

The SMSF setup fee is $2,000+GST, which covers corporate trustee establishment (ASIC fee $636), SMSF trust deed ($400), Class Super first-year licence ($250), ABN and TFN applications, investment strategy preparation, and rollover coordination.

Does SMSF Australia provide financial advice?

No. SMSF Australia does not provide financial planning or investment advice. Services are limited to SMSF accounting, tax, audit, compliance, and legal matters.

SMSF Trading

SMSF Investing in Software or Subscriptions for Trading or Investment Activities

SMSF Investing in Software or Subscriptions for Trading or Investment Activities When a SMSF is considering purchasing software or a subscription the cost must be appropriate for the SMSF to pay.

Do the superannuation laws and regulations (SISA) allow the SMSF trustee to pay for the software/subscription?
Is the software/subscription expense tax deductible?

Does SISA allow the SMSF Trustee to pay the expense?

It is possible for an SMSF to purchase a subscription in software for trading in stocks, options, shares or cryptocurrencies as well as subscriptions to services such as CoreLogic (otherwise known as RP Data) to obtain analytical data about the property market. However, the cost must be:

allowed under the fund’s trust deed
fair and reasonable
the subscription can be used by the SMSF trustee to help them make decisions about fund investments, trade equities, options, cryptocurrencies on the market and obtain market data about investments BUT cannot have any private or related party use
the invoice for the expense should be in the name of the SMSF and should be paid directly by the SMSF

Fund’s trust deed

The payment of the expense cannot be prohibited by the fund’s trust deed.

What is fair and reasonable?

SMSF Trading - What is fair and reasonable? A SMSF trustee must ensure expenses paid by the fund are in the best financial interests of the SMSF members. Paying $50,000 for a software program to trade cryptocurrencies when the SMSF’s total funds are valued at $200,000 doesn’t fit what an objective person would view as being fair and reasonable or be in the best financial interest of the members.

Use of Software

The software or subscription must be used in relation to investments which are acquired for the sole purpose of providing retirement benefits for the fund’s members. The fund should have the sole use of the subscription.

Example – Eric’s SMSF subscribes to CoreLogic as his fund has two investment properties and he wants to obtain market valuations at 30 June for audit purposes and he wants to keep an eye on the market to predict future trends. Eric also owns four investment properties personally and his family also own three properties in a family discretionary trust. It would be difficult to say the subscription to CoreLogic was for the sole purpose of providing retirement benefits for the SMSF members when Eric has a much more substantial spread of properties which he owns personally and with his family.

As a general rule If the use of the subscription looks and smells like it includes a non-SMSF purpose the fund should not pay for it.

Expense Invoice

The type of evidence generally required by a SMSF auditor includes an invoice/receipt in the name of the SMSF, a copy of the fund’s bank statement to show the payment was made by the fund and possibly a trustee declaration saying that the expense incurred was used solely by the trustee and there was no private or related party use.

A SMSF expense which is not paid directly by the fund should be reimbursed as soon as possible or alternatively may, in some situations, be taken up as a member or employer contribution.

Allowable Tax Deduction

A subscription or software purchased and used by a SMSF must come under a “general deduction provision” or a “specific deduction provision” of the Australian Taxation Laws and Regulations to be a deductible expense. For those who love the detail checkout TR 93/17 for a list of common deductions and the ATOs view on them.

A subscription to use trading software or property data is a general expense. A general expense must have been incurred in gaining or producing the fund’s assessable income and cannot be of a private or capital in nature to be a tax-deductible expense.

It is crucial to identify the intention of the SMSF trustee in using the subscription or software.

Trading software which is purchased with the intention of trading shares or cryptocurrencies may not be tax deductible. Gains or losses from trading shares or cryptocurrencies are assessable under the capital gains tax provisions (CGT) and expenditure incurred in relation to trading is on capital account and not tax deductible. It may be added to the cost base of the investments but depending on the volume of trading this may be difficult to apportion.

However, the fee may be tax deductible where a SMSF trustee acquires an annual subscription to research shares for the purposes of investing in shares to provide dividend income. The subscription fee must be incidental, relevant or sufficiently linked to the provision of dividend income. If the SMSF trustee only purchased say 100 shares in BHP, the dividend income derived from the shares may not be considered as being sufficiently linked to the use of the annual subscription