Advantages of a Corporate Trustee:

  • Greater future proofing as Corporations can last forever, therefore making it easier to incorporate your SMSF into your estate planning.
  • Easier to add or remove members of the fund without having to update the titles of each asset owned by the fund.
  • Potential to have only one individual involved. One member, one director of the corporate trustee. A single member fund will still need to have 2 individual trustees.
  • Lower fines, as administrative penalties regime fines each trustee, corporate trustees only once, however individual trustees (of which there must be at least 2) each receive the fine separately.
  • A Corporate trustee has limited liability and can provide greater asset protection than an individual trustee.

Disadvantages of a Corporate Trustee:

  • Higher costs, initial setup is generally higher due to the increased administration and registration with ASIC (ASIC Currently charges $457 for a new company and an ongoing $45 per annum)
  • Less ongoing compliance requirements, such as annual meeting minutes, compliance with a company constitution, ASIC forms and reporting.