Portfolio Software for Financial Advisers in Australia: Super, Franking Credits and Fee Consents
Published by 
Steffan Kharmaaiarvi, founder
An Australian client's wealth often sits in three shapes at once: listed shares and ETFs in a personal account, an SMSF or wrap account in accumulation or pension phase, and a retail or industry super fund held as an investment option. Franking credits change what every Australian dividend is worth, and they are worth something different in each of those places. Add a client who arrived from overseas, or one planning to leave, and the review needs more than a holdings list. This note is for financial advisers and small practices in Australia: the questions those reviews raise, what Borderfolio for Advisors screens, a worked example and where it stops. The figures are screening estimates for professional review, not tax advice.
Who it is for
Advisers and boutique practices in Australia with SMSF clients, clients holding super alongside a listed portfolio, and internationally mobile clients: new arrivals, returning expats and clients planning to leave. Borderfolio is a review and cross-border intelligence layer beside the systems you already use. It is not a CRM, an SMSF administration or accounting system, or a trading platform, and it never recommends.
The questions an Australian review raises
- What is each franking credit worth to this client? It depends on residence and on where the shares are held.
- Which phase is each super account in? Accumulation and pension phase tax the same dividend differently, and that changes the refund.
- What does a retail or industry super option cost? The investment and administration fees sit in the product disclosure statement, not on the member statement's front page.
- Is the ongoing fee arrangement renewed in time? A consent counts only inside its window.
- What happens if the client leaves Australia? A deemed disposal on departure, the CGT discount per parcel, and the choice to disregard the gains.
- What cost does an arriving client have? Shares held on becoming resident take their market value that day as cost.
- Are US-domiciled ETFs the right structure for this client? US withholding and the Irish UCITS alternative read differently for an individual and for a fund in pension phase.
What Borderfolio screens for an Australian resident
Australia is one of the residences covered in depth; countries and coverage lists what that includes.
- Super and SMSFs by phase. Set an account's wrapper to Super / SMSF, accumulation or retirement phase, and its dividends, gains, US withholding and franking are calculated at the fund's rates. A fund with members in both phases can use a firm wrapper with a blended rate. See superannuation.
- Franking credits from the statement. You enter the franked share and the company tax rate (30%, or 25% for a base rate entity) per holding from the dividend notice or the AMMA statement. The credit is D × f × r/(1−r). For a resident it is grossed up and offset, with any excess refunded; in accumulation phase the fund is taxed at 15%; in pension phase the whole credit is refunded; a non-resident's credit is recorded with no value. See franking credits and franking credits for SMSF clients.
- Super fund options. Fund, option, phase, and units at the unit price or the balance from the member statement, with the investment and administration fees from the PDS. Fees appear under costs and charges apart from the portfolio's; a unit price is already net of the fund's tax and investment fees, so neither is deducted again. See super fund options.
- Ongoing fee arrangement consents. Record each arrangement and consent; a consent counts when signed from 60 days before to 150 days after the reference day, and the client's status shows whether the current window is covered.
- Leaving Australia. With a planned destination, holdings in taxable accounts are taken as sold at market value: the deemed gain from Australian parcels, the 50% discount per parcel held 12 months, and the year's return or the choice to disregard the gains. Super is left out. See relocation planning and planning a client's relocation.
- Values on arrival. Holdings held on the day the client became resident are listed; you enter each value from the statement, and it resets the cost in every screen.
- US withholding and Irish UCITS. US-source dividends at the treaty rate, a catalogued Irish UCITS counterpart side by side, and in scenarios the dividends kept after tax, franking included, and net of fund fees. See US vs Irish-domiciled ETFs.
A worked example
Illustrative round figures, not a real client. A company taxed at 30% pays a fully franked dividend of AUD 7,000. The credit is 7,000 × 100% × 0.30 ÷ 0.70 = AUD 3,000, and the grossed-up dividend is AUD 10,000.
| Who holds the shares | Tax on AUD 10,000 | Credit | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| SMSF, accumulation phase (15%) | AUD 1,500 | AUD 3,000 | AUD 1,500 refunded to the fund |
| SMSF, pension phase (exempt) | AUD 0 | AUD 3,000 | AUD 3,000 refunded |
| Individual, illustrative 30% rate | AUD 3,000 | AUD 3,000 | Nothing further to pay |
| Non-resident | — | Recorded | No value |
The same AUD 7,000 dividend is worth AUD 7,000 to the non-resident and AUD 10,000 to the fund in pension phase. That is why the franked share is entered from the statement rather than assumed. On the same file, if the client's fee arrangement has a reference day of 1 July, a consent signed between early May and late November counts.
What it does not do
- There is no franking data feed: the franked share is your entry, and the 45-day holding rule is assumed to be met.
- Division 296, tax on super withdrawals and death benefits, and the transfer balance cap are not modelled; unit prices of retail and industry funds are not fetched live.
- The tax on leaving depends on the marginal rate and is not computed.
- It does not generate the consent form, keep an SMSF's accounts or prepare its annual return.
- It does not recommend, rebalance or trade. See the Australia and New Zealand limits.
How it fits beside your existing systems
Borderfolio for Advisors is a cross-border intelligence layer, not a replacement for your CRM, platform, back office or planning software. Client data reaches it in two ways today. Brokerage statements are uploaded as PDF, CSV, XLSX or images: exports from 15 brokers are read by format-specific parsers, other statements go through an extraction model, and every import is reviewed before anything is confirmed (importing statements). Accounts at Interactive Brokers (Flex) and Freedom24 can instead be connected to the broker's read-only API; synced holdings land unconfirmed and go through the same review (connect a broker). Connections to adviser systems such as Intelliflo and NDEX are in development and are not live.
Statements from Australian brokers and platforms without a dedicated parser go through the extraction model and are reviewed before confirmation. Your CRM and planning software stay where they are; Borderfolio adds the cross-border review and a client-ready PDF, with a franking finding for Australian residents (reports).
Frequently asked questions
Where does the franked percentage come from?
You enter it per holding from the dividend notice or the fund's AMMA statement, with the company tax rate (30%, or 25% for a base rate entity). No free source publishes it reliably, so it is never inferred.
Does Borderfolio handle SMSFs in pension phase?
Yes. With the account's wrapper set to Super / SMSF retirement phase, earnings are exempt and the whole franking credit is refunded. A fund with members in both phases can use a firm wrapper with a blended rate.
Can it track ongoing fee arrangement renewals?
It records arrangements and consents and shows whether each consent was signed within the window from 60 days before to 150 days after the reference day. It does not generate the consent form.
Does it calculate the tax on leaving Australia?
It shows the deemed gain per parcel, the 50% discount for parcels held 12 months and the choice to disregard the gains. The tax depends on the marginal rate and is not computed.