Division 296 isn't really a tax story. It's now an estate-planning and family wealth transfer story that happens to involve tax. In this week's episode of the SMSF Adviser Show podcast hosts Keeli Cambourne and Aaron Dunn from Smarter SMSF, speak with Neal Dallas, director of Business Depot Legal about the challenges that are now arising with death benefit nominations and wealth transfer.
Listen as they discuss:
· whether reducing a member's balance to $3m or $10m actually produces the best overall family outcome once tax, transaction costs, ownership and succession are considered;
· how the first death can move the surviving spouse into Division 296 territory;
· the potential mismatch where one person receives the superannuation benefit but the deceased estate has to deal with a later tax liability;
· why post-death transactions inside an SMSF can still affect the Division 296 outcome;
· why established estate-planning strategies, including spouse balance equalisation, BDBNs, EPA powers, pension structuring, recontributions and pre-death withdrawals, remain relevant but may now need to be remodelled.
