Open a bank account for your SMSF
Please read this section and watch the “Setting Up Your SMSF Bank Account” video which is below. Setting up the bank account is the most involved part of the entire process but don’t worry, we are here to make it painless. Once this bank account is opened, everything else can be done at home on the couch. Northern Territory residents need to pay stamp duty on the SMSF before opening a bank account. If you are a Northern Territory resident please read this.

The moment any money hits your SMSF bank account your fund is active and the full year’s accounting needs to be completed. If you do not want this, wait until July 1st to open the bank account. If you wait until the 1st of July you will pay $220 for the Return-Not -Necessary lodgement as opposed to $1800 (12 x $150 for single member funds) for the full year’s accounting. The Return-Not -Necessary lodgement is only available in the first year. Read more about this option here.

The banks do not accept electronic signatures yet, so you need to do some printing and signing.

Print off the following documents which can be found with your establishment documents in section 1 of the Welcome Pack…

1. constitution.pdf – Print the entire doc and sign the last page (sign page 34, it has “Execution” written on the top of the page).
2. deed.pdf – Print the entire doc and sign the last page (sign page 70, it has “Execution, Executed as a deed” written on the top of the page).

These are the only 2 pages you need to physically sign. When signing the last page of the deed and constitution, you along with each member and a witness need to sign again. It can be a different witness than the electronic signing you did earlier but the witness still needs to be over 18 and not involved with the fund in any way. (that means not a trustee/member or beneficiary)

The date on the deed execution page is already entered. You do not need to change this date. Please enter this same date on the constitution execution page.

Take the docs to the bank and bring all the trustees along with 100 points of ID for everyone.

Approved Banks

• ANZ
• CBA
• NAB

When going to the bank, be aware that you might need to come back later in the day or the following day to finalise the account set up.

If the bank clerk asks for the “settlor” details or the “settled” amount, tell them there is no “settlor” or “settled” amount as this is an SMSF. (other accounts like family trusts have a settlor, SMSFs do not).

Bank 7 Point Checklist

1. Open your SMSF bank account at either ANZ, CBA or NAB.
2. IMPORTANT: When at the bank, DO NOT mention cryptocurrencies, bitcoin or anything referring to the crypto space.
3. Select the correct type of account. You just need a basic business bank account but also advise the bank that it is for an SMSF. They should understand what to do from there.
4. Even though your registered address for the SMSF is New Brighton Capital’s address, for the SMSF bank account just use your home address so you receive the bank statements.
5. Make sure the name of your account is correct. The name of the bank account needs to be “The company name” as trustee for “The SMSF name”. For example… ABC Pty Ltd as trustee for Smith Family Super. NOTE: The name of the bank account is the only time you need to use this format. For every other account you just use the SMSF name (Smith Family Super).
6. Request a debit card as this is handy for incidental purchases like hardware wallets etc.
7. Request monthly electronic bank statements (not 3,6 month or annually) – If you do not receive monthly statements you might miss lodging deadlines while waiting for your statement.

If you are considering trading shares, ANZ, CBA and NAB all have share trading platforms you can attach to your bank account. This is normally set up online (not in the bank) but you can confirm this by asking the clerk for the best way to open an account on their share platform.

Approve authorisations

The request named “Approve Authorisations” in your Welcome Pack contains 2 links.

1. One link for the direct debit
2. One link for the bank feed. (this gives us read only access to your bank statements for the SMSF account. We never have access to your funds)

• Click the links using your phone or PC and follow the prompts.
• All you need are the SMSF’s bank account details.
• It takes 30 seconds to complete each request.
• For the direct debit, if the bank has set you up with 2 accounts (a transaction account and savings account), make sure you use the details of the transaction account for the direct debits as the savings accounts can only move money into the transaction account and cannot be used for direct debits.
• No debits will be able to be taken before the account is funded.
• Do not wait until funds are in the account to approve the debit.
• If funds are not in the account by the first debit date, you will not be penalised. It will simply accrue and move to the following month. After the first successful debit is made, any missed payments will attract a $5 default charge from your bank.
• For the bank feed, even if you have multiple accounts under the same login, this is not an issue. You select which accounts you allow us to view. Once you log in, you simply select the SMSF account and that is the only account we will be able to see. Your other accounts will remain private.
• Once set up you will receive invoices each month for your records but the debit will come out automatically.

Redirect your super contributions to the SMSF (optional)

• If you want to have your super contributions paid into your new SMSF bank account, print off and fill in this form and hand it to your employer or payroll.
• Your ESA is: “AUSPOSTSMSF”. ESA stands for Electronic Service Address – it is just a service that automatically notifies you and the government whenever you receive a super payment. Your employer will use your ESA code (“AUSPOSTSMSF”) together with your fund’s ABN to set up this messaging service.
• Only fill in sections 1,2, 4 and 5 (do not fill in section 3)
• Your fund address is our registered office address “U17/26-28 Octal Street, Yatala, QLD 4207”.
• Your fund phone number is your mobile number.
• If your employer asks for the USI, just provide the ABN (Self-Managed Super Funds do not have a USI).
• If you do not want to have your super payments paid into your SMSF account, just make sure you leave enough in the account to pay for the monthly fees and insurances etc.
• Enter the fund details, not the company details (The ABN is the number on ABN.pdf which can be found in an attachment in Item 1 of the Welcome Pack. The fund name is on front of the deed.pdf doc in Item 1 of the Welcome Pack)
• You are allowed to split up the contributions to send some super to your SMSF and the rest to your retail fund (if you keep the retail fund open). Some employers do not permit this so ask your payroll office if this is something they can do.
• The moment any money hits your SMSF bank account your fund is active and the full year’s accounting needs to be completed. If you do not want this, wait until July 1st to notify your employer of your new superannuation details. If you wait until the 1st of July you will pay $220 for the nil activity lodgement as opposed to $1800 (12 x $150) for the full year’s accounting. The Return-Not -Necessary lodgement is only available in the first year.

Request your rollover (optional)

After you have redirected your super contributions you can organise your rollover ie: move money from your old fund into the new SMSF bank account.

• Again, the moment any money hits your SMSF bank account, your fund is active and the full year’s accounting needs to be completed. If you do not want this, wait until July 1st to open the bank account and apply for the rollover. If you wait until the 1st of July you will pay $220 for the Return-Not -Necessary lodgement as opposed to $1800 (12 x $150) for the full year’s accounting. The Return-Not -Necessary lodgement is only available in the first year.
• If rolling over the entire balance from a retail fund into your new SMSF, use this form:
• If rolling over only a portion of the funds in another fund you will need to call them directly and request a “Partial Rollover Form”. This will either be mailed out to you, emailed or available to download on the fund’s website.
• Once you provide all of the information required to process your rollover, your other fund must process your transfer within 3 days of the date they receive the request
• PRO TIP – If you get the feeling your old fund is dragging their feet and trying to slow up the withdrawal, if you call them and mention that you will call the “financial ombudsman” if not received soon, you’ll be amazed at how fast the holdup will disappear.
• Once the rollover hits your bank account, you can pay yourself back the establishment fee. Just enter “pay back set up fees” as the payment reference.
• A few days after you receive the rollover you will also receive a Rollover Statement in the mail from your old fund. Please upload a copy of the rollover statement to your client portal.

Opening trading accounts

Please be aware that you MUST NOT use your personal accounts for any SMSF activity. You need to open up new accounts for all SMSF accounts. Please also be aware that as per the engagement agreement, each case of trading on unapproved exchanges or using personal accounts will attract an additional $550 fee.

Opening crypto trading accounts

• For crypto we only approve Independent Reserve , CoinSpot, Swyftx,  BTCMarkets and Kraken. Please note that Independent Reserve fees are 0.5% but they also charge $49.95 for the end of financial year report. CoinSpot charge 1% trading fees and their end of financial year report is free.
• If you already have a personal account at the exchange you might need to use another email as the exchanges do not allow more than one account per email address (yet).
• The name of the account needs to be the SMSF name, not the company name. The fund name can be seen on the ABN registration in the establishment docs.
• Make sure when you verify your account (on Aussie exchanges) that you select the account to be an SMSF account.
• The documents you will need are photos/scans of your personal IDs like drivers licence or passport as well as the electronically signed document which is in section 1 of your online portal named “YourFundName – EstablishmentDocuments.pdf”
• If the exchange requests a company extract please watch this youtube video explaining how to obtain one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x3DZ7XL24E
• Storing cryptocurrency – You are permitted to store your coins on a hardware wallet that only you control. The hardware wallet must have only ever been used by the SMSF and can only ever be used for the SMSF. The hardware wallet can be paid for by the SMSF. At tax time you will need to share the public addresses with us so we can match your transactions on the blockchain. You may not send privacy coins off the exchange because there is no way for us or the auditor to verify the existence and locations of privacy coins once they leave the exchange.
• API Keys – Once your accounts are set up we require you to set up the read only APIs (API Key and Secret Key) so we can complete the accounting throughout the year and not chase you up for statements/trade details etc. Below are instructional videos on how to generate the APIs for each exchange. NOTE: the API keys are required to be uploaded onto your secure client portal , not sent via email.
  Generate Read Only API keys for CoinSpot
  Generate Read Only API keys for Independent Reserve
  Generate Read Only API keys for Swyftx

Opening share trading accounts

• For share trading we only approve ANZeTrade, CommSec, NABTrade, Interactive Brokers or SAXO markets,
• You can open share trading accounts 100% online and having your accounts verified normally takes a couple of days.
• The name of the account needs to be the SMSF name, not the company name. The fund name can be seen on the ABN registration in the establishment docs.
• Make sure when you verify your account (on Aussie exchanges) that you select the account to be an SMSF account.
• If the exchange requests a company extract please watch this youtube video explaining how to obtain one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x3DZ7XL24E
• If the exchange requires you to provide a W-8BEN-E form for United States earnings please see this W-8BEN-E form blog post

Opening precious metal trading accounts

• Gold and Silver can be purchased in person or online via any reputable dealer. Two of the most respected dealers in Australia are Perth Mint and Ainslie Bullion in Brisbane.
• Again just ensure the account name is the SMSF name, not your personal name or the company name.
• You cannot store precious metals at home, you need a custodian. You can read about the ins and outs of storing precious metals in your SMSF here.
• The name of the account needs to be the SMSF name, not the company name. The fund name can be seen on the ABN registration in the establishment docs.
• If the exchange requests a company extract please watch this youtube video explaining how to obtain one. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-x3DZ7XL24E

You are all set

You are now ready to trade and invest your super how you see fit. You can focus on building your portfolio and we will take care of of everything behind the scenes.

At tax time

At the end of the financial year the process is as follows…

1. In July we will update requests in your client portal with a list of what we require.
2. You simply upload the required docs into your portal (all required docs will have instructions and most will be simple downloads available from your exchanges)
3. We will approve the uploads or request more info if necessary
4. We will then complete the financial statements, tax return, compliance and independent audit, forward you docs to e-sign directly from your computer then upload the completed paperwork to your client portal.

We are here to help

Again, if you have any questions at any time regarding the process, rules of the fund or anything else, please email admin@newbrightoncapital.com or ring our office on 1300 264 022 and we will be happy to assist.

Thank you for your business and we look forward to serving you moving forward.