A superannuation lawyer has stressed while a number of documents can be executed electronically, one critical component of an SMSF must be approved via wet signature.
“Because of [the COVID-19 pandemic], laws were brought in to enable electronic signing and it’s been very effective, but there are certain exceptions and one of the things excepted relates to trustee declarations so they actually have to [be executed] by a wet signature,” consultant lawyer Peter Bobbin told delegates during a panel session at the Auditors Institute Auditors Day 2026 held in Sydney recently.
Bobbin acknowledged items such as the trust deed and pension documents can be approved electronically, but warned practitioners not to be over-reliant on this type of procedure.
“Be careful there is not something that says it shouldn’t be [executed electronically]. The trust deed may require things in writing, for example. So it may be that the process of signing something electronically is actually not compliant with the trust deed itself,” he noted.
“So that’s another factor to take into account.”
Fellow panellist Tactical Super director Deanne Firth took the opportunity to confirm witnessing the signing of documents can be done via online platforms such as Zoom, but warned despite this allowance, the other standard rules pertaining to this area of compliance still apply.
“[The witnessing and signing] have to be done on the same day. We had one the other day where the witness was three months late. So clearly they didn’t witness that document,” Firth said.
Bobbin emphasised when using online platforms such as Zoom to complete these procedures it was crucial for witnesses to have a complete picture of the circumstances at hand.
“I was going through witnessing and we’re holding the phone and I’m getting the people not only to hold the phone so I can see them signing it, but to show me the whole room,” he indicated.
“[That is] because I’m dealing with elder abuse now [and have to establish if] there is some form of coercion in the signing of the document.”