We received a reminder from the provider of our SMSF deeds the other day.
If you nominate your legal personal representative to be the recipient of your superannuation proceeds, make sure that they are dealt with separately in your Will, especially if your will has discretionary testamentary trust provisions.
For example, if you leave your residuary estate to your executor as the trustee of a discretionary testamentary trust, with your spouse as the primary beneficiary, and your super proceeds are included in the residuary estate, he/she will lose 15% of concessional contributions you made to your super, unnecessarily.
If instead the super proceeds were left to your spouse in the Will, the 15% tax would not be payable.
For tax-effective Wills, see Michael Paterson & Associates.