In most cases, we will set up a new special-purpose company as trustee of your new SMSF.

More information can be found in this article, Corporate versus Individual Trustee for SMSF, and the table below:

There are additional fees when setting up an SMSF with a company trustee. Grow's fees include the ASIC company registration fee, where the company trustee option is selected.

There are minimal ongoing fees to maintain a special-purpose SMSF trustee company. The ASIC Annual Review Fees can be found here: ASIC Fees

Annual fees are payable on the anniversary of the setup of the company.

A special purpose SMSF trustee company does not have an ABN or TFN, does not trade and is not required to lodge tax returns or prepare financial statements. There is no impact on your ongoing SMSF accounting/tax/audit fees with a trustee company.

If your SMSF will have a company trustee, all members must have a Director Identification Number (Director ID) before setting up the SMSF.

More information: Director IDs for SMSFs

Each individual can only have one Director ID, regardless of the number of companies they are directors of.

If setting up an SMSF to purchase an investment property, you must have a company trustee.

The reason is that most lenders will only lend to SMSFs when the trustee is a company. Your SMSF will be extremely limited regarding available lenders if you set up your SMSF with individual trustees.

When setting up an SMSF to invest in cryptocurrency, using a company trustee is recommended.

A company trustee ensures the crypto wallet addresses and exchange accounts are registered in the name of the SMSF trustee and cannot be confused or mixed with any personal crypto investments.

Using an existing company that is a trustee of another trust or operating a business is NOT recommended.

Using individual trustees is only appropriate in very limited circumstances.

For example, when two members of an SMSF are a couple, and the investments will be simple (cash, shares, managed funds, etc.), the plan is to wind up the SMSF as soon as either member passes away or loses capacity.

In any other circumstance, a company trustee should be used.

Although it's possible to change from individual trustees to a company trustee in the future, the time and cost will be higher than using a company trustee in the first instance.

All accounts and investments must be held in the trustee's name (as trustee for the SMSF), so changing the trustee is time-consuming. You can learn more here:
​Changing SMSF trustee from individuals to a company