Top 10 ClearLaw articles to help you keep up-to-date

By Thomas Lam

Articles prepared by top 20 law firm – Maddocks – since 2005

ClearLaw, first published back in August 2005, is a monthly newsletter of articles about current legislative issues concerning SMSFs, CompanyRegistration, DiscretionaryTrusts and more. The articles are usually authored by relevant lawyers from Maddocks or Thomson Reuters' senior tax writers.

All Cleardodcs users receive an email alert once the articles are published on our website and can read these articles for free.

In this blog, I would like to share with you the 10 most popular ClearLaw articles to date:

1. UpcomingSMSF administrative changes: early discussion with the ATO Mar 2014 – upcoming legislative changes affecting SMSFs outlined by an ATO senior officer.
2. Companiesvs Sole Traders: Things you need to consider May 2010 – looks into some of the issues you need to consider when deciding whether to operate a business as a sole trader or through a "Pty Ltd" company.
3. ATOprovides warning on SMSFs which lend money (NOT borrow money) Sep 2011 – warnings from the ATO about SMSF trustees entering into lending arrangements on behalf of the SMSF.
4. Changeof SMSF trustee: practical tips for LRBAs Mar 2014 – tips and guidance to SMSF trustees to help them comply with their duties under superannuation law and LRBA documents.
5. Jointventurers v. Partners: Do they owe the same duties to one another? Jul 2007 – discusses two court decisions suggesting joint venturers owe one another the same fiduciary duties as partners.
6. CorporateTrustee v Individual Trustee: Key Differences for SMSFs Apr 2011 – highlights the advantages and disadvantages of choosing a corporate trustee over an individual trustee for a self managed superannuation fund and other trusts generally.
7. SMSFMembers overseas? Beware the residency trap Nov 2006 – an interesting and relevant read for any SMSF member who plans to stay overseas for more than two years.
8. Overviewof some things to consider when registering an Australian company Mar 2010 – a guide to some of the issues you need to consider when registering a 'proprietary limited' company.
9. Electronicsignatures: when are they effective? Nov 2013 – identifies risks and tips for dealing with electronic signatures.
10. Understandingthe differences between an agreement and a deed: lessons from 400 George Street (Qld) Pty Ltd v BGInternational Ltd Feb 2013 – discuss how deeds and agreements are distinct in two principal ways.

I hope you will find these articles interesting and useful. You can read our most recent ClearLaw articles here. Feel free to forward us topics you would like our lawyers to cover as ClearLaw articles.  Please note that ClearLaw articles are up to date at the time they are published. Old articles are not updated to reflect changes in the law.

Cleardocs and Privacy

Lisa Galbraith, General Manager Cleardocs

12 March, 2014 saw the new Privacy Laws finally come into effect.   The Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Act 2012 was passed in December 2012 and since that time, you may have read our ClearLaw article "Key changes to privacy law explained: the impact on business".  The new rules have a significant impact on how businesses handle private information.    It impacts how we interact with individuals, irrespective of how you engage with us.

The new rules have prompted a review of processes and structures at Thomson Reuters.  Cleardocs has been closely involved and takes the new laws seriously.  We want to make sure that it is clear what we do with your personal information.  On each page of the Cleardocs website you will see that we have updated our privacy statement at "How are we using your information?".  You can easily see how we are using your information and how you can control that.  This statement will also appear on all of our email communications to you.

At Cleardocs, the new laws have also reinforced existing business practice.  For example:

-           -  we don’t store credit card information – on the rare occasions when credit card details are received the details are destroyed.  The payment and data process is secured by ANZ;

-          -  particularly sensitive data fields inside our database are encrypted to ensure the highest level of security;

-          -  personal information is only shared for document finalisation purposes such as with ASIC and IP Australia.

Privacy management is not a one off task but an ongoing exercise which we will continue to focus on.

+Cleardocs Thomson Reuters

Changes to cleardocs.com

Harin Wijenayake – Marketing Manager, Cleardocs

As most of you may know, Cleardocs was acquired by Thomson Reuters – a global leader for sourcing intelligent information for businesses and professionals in July 2011 and in 2012, Cleardocs celebrated its 10 year anniversary.
 

Over the past 11 years, the Cleardocs website has seen some major changes – both in look and functionality.

2013 is a year for further change.

Any changes we make will be in line with our value proposition – clarity | simplicity | ease of use – keeping it simple for our valued customers. 

In keeping with that value proposition, we're about to give the website a refresh in look, feel and functionality. We hope you like it.

Over the next few months you may notice some changes to www.cleardocs.com.  The changes we’re making will be improvements, making our website more efficient for you.

What will the website changes mean?

The changes will make using our website much easier:
- Easier navigatation;
- Easier to find relevant content;   
- Easier search for completed documents;
- Easier access to our resources.

The other thing you may notice is a pallette change. Cleardocs is a Thomson Reuters company and as the Thomson Reuters brand is orange, you’ll be seeing a lot more of this hue within the Cleardocs website.

They say that orange stimulates creativity, enthusiasm, warmth and social communication and Cleardocs likes to keep the lines of communications open for customers.

Some examples of the informative content we offer are listed below:

• ClearLaw is a monthly email that advises our customers of changes in legislation such as

• AFSL

• Major super reforms announced during 2013 Budget

• ClearNews which is how we advise of new Cleardocs products such as the recently released SMSF Minutes & Resolution Package.

While we're enhancing the website, you can still access our support lines -
either through our 24/7 helpdesk on 1300 307 343 or through email support@cleardocs.com.

Cleardocs Breakfast Seminars - SMSF Borrowing

Danni Kirwan, Marketing Executive

Earlier this week, Cleardocs hosted seminars in Melbourne and Sydney focusing on SMSF borrowing through instalment warrant arrangements. We’ll be posting a video of the seminar on the Cleardocs website in mid August.

We organized the seminars in response to the large number of queries we were getting on our helpline about our new SMSF borrowing products.

The Seminars were presented by Julian Smith, a partner at Maddocks. Some of you may have spoken to Julian over the years on our legal helpline, or seen him present at our previous seminars; Fiona Da Silva from St George Bank in Melbourne, and Wayne Scott from NAB in Sydney.

We had a great turnout from Cleardocs customers keen to find out more about this relatively new opportunity. Our audience proved quite inquisitive, challenging Julian, Fiona and Wayne with some tricky questions — you can see it all on the video.

The banks gave a great insight into their restrictions and considerations for instalment warrant borrowing, and pointed out some of the things commonly overlooked. Did you know:

• that a property held under an instalment warrant arrangement can’t be used to secure an overdraft? And
• that an arrangement using funds borrowed through an instalment warrant can’t be refinanced? Though Julian did outline an innovative solution he arranged with a bank for one client.

One of the points Julian, Fiona and Wayne all made was to allow plenty of time to set up the arrangement – they suggested it takes 6 to 8 weeks for the banks to process an instalment warrant application. So keep that in mind if you’re planning to settle on a property!

For those of you unable to attend the seminars, we’ll be posting a video of the seminar on the Cleardocs website in the coming weeks. In the meantime, you can find more information on SMSF borrowing in our previous blog posts, and ClearLaw articles written by our lawyers at Maddocks.

It was great to meet some of our customers face to face at the seminars after talking to so many of you on our helpline. Seminars are also a great way for us to keep you informed about products and issues that are relevant to you.

If you have any questions about SMSF borrowing, or about any of our other products, let us know in the comments section below, and we’ll get back to you. We’d also love to hear about any ideas you might have for future seminar topics. Or, if you were at the Seminar, we’d love to know what you thought.