Your fund can borrow money only in very limited circumstances. These circumstances include:
- borrowing money for a maximum of 90 days to meet benefit payments due to members or to meet an outstanding surcharge liability (the borrowings can't exceed 10% of your fund’s total assets)
- borrowing money for a maximum of seven days to cover the settlement of security transactions if the borrowing does not exceed 10% of your fund’s total assets (you can only borrow to settle security transactions if, at the time the transaction was entered into, it was likely that the borrowing would not be needed)
- borrowing using instalment warrants or limited recourse borrowing arrangements that meet certain conditions.
A trustee can use a limited recourse borrowing arrangement to fund the purchase of a single asset (or collection of identical assets that have the same market value) to be held in a separate trust.
Any investment returns earned from the asset go to the SMSF trustee. If the loan defaults, the lender's rights are limited to the asset held in the separate trust. This means there is no recourse to the other assets held in the SMSF.
See also:
Your fund can borrow money only in very limited circumstances, such as short-term loans to make benefit payments, or limited recourse borrowing arrangements in which the assets of the fund are protected.