Terms and Conditions and Disclaimers

Terms and Conditions - Cambridge Super SMSF Administration Agreement 

 

Cambridge Co Pty Ltd (‘Cambridge Super’, ‘we’, ‘us’, ‘our’) provides self-managed super fund (‘SMSF’) administration services.

Customers who wish to create an SMSF or transferring an SMSF to Cambridge Super agree to the terms of this SMSF Administration Service Agreement (‘Agreement’) which governs your engagement of Cambridge Super as your SMSF administration accounting service provider. 

 

We reserve the right to amend the Agreement from time to time. Any amendments which apply to existing Cambridge Super customers shall come into effect 14 days after publication of the amendment on www.camsuper.com.au/legal (“Website”). If the amendment is required for urgent technical, risk, or regulatory compliance reasons, the amendment will come into effect immediately upon publication on the Website.

 

Services

 

Under this Agreement, we will provide the following services to you:

• Establishment of an SMSF with the Australian Taxation Office (‘ATO’) and the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (‘ASIC’) (except in the case of transferring SMSFs);

• Facilitation of the independent audit of your SMSF conducted by an independent auditor partner of our choice; and

• Lodgment of the SMSF annual return for your fund (lodgment by Cambridge Super as the registered tax agent).

 

Fees

 

You agree to pay the fees applicable for the provision of our services.

 

All fees are charged in AUD. You can view our full fee schedule here. 

 

In the case of SMSFs established by us, your initial annual fee will be paid upfront when you submit the application. For all following years, the annual fee will be paid in equal monthly instalments via direct debit from your SMSF bank account following the anniversary of your Cambridge Super account creation date.

 

In the case of existing SMSFs transferred to us, your initial annual fee will be paid in monthly instalments via direct debit from your SMSF bank account from the date we successfully process your transfer application. 

 

We may charge additional fees where we reasonably consider that more work is required than is standard. We will use our best endeavours to notify you of any additional fees as soon as we become aware of them and in any event, prior to such additional fees being incurred.

 

In the event Cambridge Super is appointed to complete outstanding tax returns from prior financial years, an additional annual fee will be charged in respect of each outstanding tax return from each prior financial year.

 

We reserve the right to change and amend the fees published in our annual fee pricing from time to time and will provide 14 days notice of any such changes which apply to existing customers.

 

Representations, Warranties and Obligations

 

The assets of your SMSF are held in your name(s) as Trustee and under your control. 

 

As Trustee (including as Director of a corporate trustee) you agree that you will:

• ensure that any activity of your SMSF is in compliance with the rules contained within the SMSF Trust Deed of the fund and applicable laws;

• pay any tax or regulatory fees relating to your SMSF on or before the due date;

• do all things reasonably necessary to give full effect to this Agreement, including without limitation executing documents;

• ensure that all investments are made in the Trustee’s name; and

• provide us with any documentation or information requested for the completion of your accounts, SMSF annual return or compliance audit including the issuance of the annual report by the independent auditor of the fund within 14 days. If we are required to contact you on more than two occasions to provide requested documentation or information, we reserve the right to pass on additional costs resulting from our time spent obtaining this information.

 

Further, you represent and warrant that the information you give us is complete and correct, you have authority to enter into this Agreement, your instructions are lawful and that you are over the age of 18. 

 

Tax Agent

 

You agree to appoint us as a Tax Agent on behalf of your Fund.  In addition, you authorise us to replace or change the nominated Tax Agent for your Fund from time to time as long as this Agreement remains in force. 

 

All taxpayers including your SMSF have certain rights and obligations when a Tax Agent is appointed including:

• the Trustee(s) of the fund have sole responsibility for the timely and accurate lodgment of the SMSF Annual Returns (income tax returns) of the fund;

• the Trustee(s) of the fund have an obligation to keep proper records that will substantiate the taxation returns prepared and which will satisfy the substantiation requirements of the taxation laws. Failure to keep such records could result in claims being disallowed, additional tax being imposed, and the imposition of penalty or general interest charges; and

• the Trustee(s) of the fund are responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the particulars and information required to comply with the various taxation laws.

Your rights as a taxpayer include: 

• the right to seek a private ruling, the right to object to an assessment by the Commissioner and the right to appeal against an adverse decision by the Commissioner; and

• certain time limitations may exist for you to exercise these rights. Should you wish to exercise these rights at any time you should contact us to arrange advice.

 

Indemnity

 

You agree to indemnify us, our service providers, officers, employees, agents and our related bodies corporate for any losses arising directly or indirectly out of:

• all claims made against us or suffered by us as a direct or indirect result of you failing to comply, or failing to comply in sufficient time, with any of your responsibilities with respect to your SMSF. You acknowledge and confirm that, for the purposes of this Agreement, any reference to the obligations of you applies to both you as the Trustee and you as a member of the fund;

• our acting on your instructions; and

• your failure to comply with this Agreement or any applicable laws

 

Our Liability

 

We will exercise all reasonable care and skill in the provision of our services. However, we, our directors, service providers, officers, agents or related bodies corporate are not liable for any actions, claims, demands, proceedings, liabilities, losses, damages, costs and expenses (except resulting from or caused by our negligence, fraud or dishonest) due to:

• us acting upon, or refusing to act upon, your instructions;

• your default;

• any legal action;

• error, omission, non-receipt or invalidity in your instructions;

• any events or circumstances we cannot reasonably control;

• any delay, interruption, omission, failure, error or fault by us in passing on and executing your instructions; 

• faults, errors, defects, failures in our systems, or loss of access to your account;

• a change in any applicable law; and

• any tax, fees, levies or fines issued by the ATO or ASIC with regards to the SMSF or trustee company of the SMSF. 

 

To the extent permitted by law, you release us, our directors, employees, service providers, officers, agents and related bodies corporate from all liability in respect of any loss and expenses incurred by you. We, and our staff, will not be responsible or liable for any claims that arise, whether directly or indirectly, as a result or consequence of you breaching the provisions of the SMSF Trust Deed of the fund or any applicable laws which result in the fund being deemed non-compliant with the Superannuation Laws; or you failing to comply, or failing to comply in sufficient time, with any of your responsibilities pursuant to the provisions of this Agreement.

 

We do not exclude or limit the application of any statute where it would be unlawful to do so.

 

Confidentiality

 

We will treat it as confidential and maintain the confidentiality of all information and records that you provide. Such information will only be disclosed to a third-party where you provide specific authority for us to do so, or where we are subject to a legal duty to disclose the information.

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Unless otherwise agreed between us, this Agreement provides us the authority to provide all necessary information to an independent Auditor nominated by us. From time to time whilst carrying out our services, we may engage various staff and or contractors who we consider appropriate for the effective provision of our services. These personnel will have access to your accounting and taxation records only for the purpose of completing their agreed engagements.

 

Records

 

As part of this Agreement we will prepare various electronic records and notes consistent with our internal quality control systems. These records remain the property of Cambridge Super and will be retained by us to support any future queries on work completed. 

 

Any original source records provided by the Trustee to us to assist in the completion of the Services will be returned to the Trustee upon completion of the Services for the relevant financial year. Where appropriate we will make copies to retain for our records.

 

Termination and Dispute Resolution

 

This Agreement may be terminated by either Party for any reason by giving 30 days’ notice in writing to the other party.

 

If the Agreement is terminated, each party will remain liable for any outstanding fees under this Agreement or under any separate agreement. Following termination of the Agreement, not all information maintained by us will belong to you. For example, file notes, working papers, or internal emails will remain our property. If the Agreement is terminated, we will provide all appropriate information to you or an alternative service provider nominated by you within 30 days.

 

Notwithstanding the foregoing, we reserve the right to retain documents and information if there is money owing to us under this Agreement.

 

This Agreement will continue to be enforceable against the Trustee’s estate until the Agreement is terminated by the Trustee’s estate representative.

 

If a dispute arises as in relation to any aspect of this Agreement or the performance thereof and the dispute cannot be resolved between us, then the parties agree to resolve the dispute by mediation. 

 

The mediator shall be as agreed or failing agreement within 7 days by a mediator nominated by the President of The Law Society of Queensland. The costs of the mediation shall be met equally.

 

Refunds

 

Set Up Fee - When you submit an application for Cambridge Super to establish a new SMSF on your behalf, you are required to pay our upfront set-up fee before we process your application. The set-up fee is used to pay costs of your instructions to engage a lawyer to provide the associated legal documents, including the SMSF Trust Deed. Except as set out below, the set-up fee is non-refundable, even if the ATO does not accept registration of your SMSF. The first year’s annual fee includes the set-up fee referenced in this section.

 

We will only refund the set-up fee (less payment processing costs) if you meet all of the following criteria:

• you notify us in writing that you no longer wish to register an SMSF within 24 hours of paying the set-up fee;

• we have not yet commenced work on the Trust Deed; and

• we have not yet commenced work related to the ASIC ABN submission.

 

Accounting Fees - Your annual fee is withdrawn in equal monthly instalments via direct from your nominated SMSF bank account.  As work is performed on a monthly basis, monthly instalments are refundable only in a limited set of circumstances. A monthly instalment will only be refunded if all of the below criteria are met:

• a notification has been received by us in writing from the trustee(s) of the relevant SMSF that the ongoing service is being terminated; 

• no accounting services or work relevant to preparing the financial accounts or SMSF annual return has been done in the month that the monthly fee relates to; and

• no audit work has been performed for the financial year that the annual fee relates to.

 

Authority Delegation

 

Access to relevant information and data from third parties including banks and other financial institutions is essential for the efficient delivery of our services.

 

You agree to delegate to us the ability to complete third party data authorities on your behalf to enable investment, transaction and account data to be electronically fed to our nominated administration platform(s) or to obtain required reports or documentation for the completion of your SMSF annual return or audit where the provision of the authority does not include dealing in anyway with the acquisition or disposal of investments or assets of the SMSF (i.e. the authority is read-only). 

 

Scheduling of Work

 

Some of your agreed work is subject to specific lodgment dates. To allow us to comply with lodgment dates we rely on your timely provision of information. We will schedule your work to be completed at a suitable month throughout the financial year taking into consideration various factors.

 

Duration of Agreement

 

This Agreement remains in force from the financial year in which it is signed and for future years until terminated in accordance with the Agreement.

 

Scope of Service

 

If there is more than one individual acting as Trustee personally or as Directors of a corporate Trustee, then each individual is deemed to be an agent of each other individually and you each authorise and direct us to accept instructions from any one individual without the need to seek confirmation of those instructions from any other individual.

 

Each of you agree, jointly and severally, to pay our tax invoices. Our costs are payable up to the termination of the services and for any work that we are required to do for you after termination.

 

Entire Agreement

 

This Agreement is the entire agreement and understanding between the parties on everything connected with the subject matter and supersedes any prior understanding, arrangements, representation or agreements between the parties as to the subject matter contained in this agreement.