Annual ASIC fee for trustee company

You are allowed to prepay 10 years of the annual ASIC fees for companies, whether it is a normal Pty Ltd as a trustee or a Special Purpose Company of a SMSF.

Special Purpose Company pays $43/year or you can prepay 10 years for $324.
Pty Ltd companies pays $230/year or you can prepay 10 years for $1728.

1. Considering that the annual fee goes up every year & prepaying for 10 years gets you a discount at today's rate, what are your thoughts on prepaying for 10 years?

2. Can the ASIC annual fee be paid by the trust for the Pty Ltd & the SMSF pay the ASIC fee for the Special Purpose Company? If so, would this be a deduction for the Trust & SMSF? What about if one company was a trustee of 3 trusts?
 
It looks like you can pay for up to 10 years.
What happens if you pay an advance and then decide to close down that company after 2 years.

I suppose it removes the administrative burden of having to pay every year and you could save a bit of money.

Could you invest that money now and make a bigger return?
 
Yeah, the thing would be to consider if the company would be closed down before the 10 year period, but a company that is a trustee of a trust & another for a SMSF, you would be hoping that this would not be the case as the aim would be for the long-term.

The way I see it, if you pay the $324 10 year fee for a Special Purpose Company, you save $106 which is about 2.5 years worth of fees, more if you include the increase of fees every year if you didn't prepay. And in the end of the day, $324 would probably be sitting in a bank earning interest only.

If anyone knows, the other questions I have:

1. Can a trust pay for the ASIC fees of the company trustee & if so, would it be possibly deductible to the trust?

2. Can a SMSF pay for the ASIC fees of the Special Purpose Company trustee & if so, would it be possibly deductible to the SMSF?

3. If setting up a company to be a trustee of a trust or a Special Purpose Company to be trustee of a SMSF, does it really matter who creates the company, eg. getting a cheap one done or one from a lawyer that may charge more for this? Are there much differences with who creates the companies comparing it to a trust, where a trust is always best to be created by a lawyer who really knows how to write the trust deed properly.
 
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3. If setting up a company to be a trustee of a trust or a Special Purpose Company to be trustee of a SMSF, does it really matter who creates the company, eg. getting a cheap one done or one from a lawyer that may charge more for this? Are there much differences with who creates the companies comparing it to a trust, where a trust is always best to be created by a lawyer who really knows how to write the trust deed properly.

How you structure the company is important for asset protection reasons. If you lose control of the company you lose control of the trust/smsf.

Estate planning considerations are very important as well as getting legal advice regarding director duties and other corporations act issues. e.g. What if you don't know the importance of keeping the company address up to date. This cost one of my clients $50,000.
 
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