IMO a great post. Complex indeed, my wife recently completed another 20 pages of documentation for her super fund just to start a transition to retirement income stream. As for annual audits & tax returns for my SMSF - my accountant loves me!
Re tax paid by managed super funds, I learnt the hard way that all interest is taxed at 15% from the $1st earned - even if losses in other asset classes such as equities have been incurred.
As an example, say you invested $200,000 at 6% & earned $12,000 interest but lost $25,000 on investments in equities. For that FY your fund still pays tax of 15% of $12,000!
As the Crrrrawww said to Maxwell Smart; "Ahhhmazink!"
Of course losses such as those mentioned above can be counted against future earnings in those categories - if you ever get the chance!
