In relation to the current franking credit dilemma faced by many SMSF members in pension phase, I note that some financial commentators have suggested a possible advantage of investing in an industry super fund if one’s SMSF is likely to lose significant franking credit refunds. I looked at the Balanced option for HOSTPLUS members on their website. For a $50,000 investment, the total fees are quoted as $608. As the fee is based on a percentage of the funds invested, for a $5.0 mil investment, the fee would be $60,800. This seems quite excessive to me, and I wonder whether I am missing something. I definitely would not be closing my SMSF and investing in an industry fund at these fee levels.

Do you have a view on the “advantages” of switching from an SMSF to an industry super fund as a response to the possible loss of franking credit refunds ?

If we lose rebate on franking credits in SMSF as of 1/7/19 what happens to this last years if as in most cases we do not submit tax returns till Dec 19 or even Jan 2020. Will we still get the rebate?

I have an SMSF which has relied heavily on Franking Credits. I have some decisions to make about re balancing my shareholding if (when) Labour gets elected What happens to the Franking Credits on retained profits that are not given to Shareholders each year ? Are these accumulated by the company and what can they do with them? Is it likely that these could be distributed to shareholders before the end of the year in the case of the Big Banks?