The question of taxation is certainly simpler within Superannuation than it is outside. You can start with the basic premise that a super fund is taxed at the rate of 15% when it is in accumulation and when these assets back a pension during pension phase, those assets will become tax exempt.
That is the tax on earnings will be nil. However there are a few wrinkles in that otherwise smooth set of assumptions.
The first relates to capital gains; if an asset that has been held for over 12 months is subsequently sold for a profit, the super fund receives a 1/3rd discount in working out the taxable gain. This effectively reduces the tax payable to 10% (although this is how people talk about CGT, strictly speaking the tax rate remains at 15% with the taxable amount being reduced.)
Also, if the fund is registered for GST then this tax is levied at the standard rate of 10%. If the fund isn't registered for GST, the fund effectively just becomes an 'end user' and simply pays the tax on goods and services it consumes.
The big taxes for SMSFs are for non arms-length income transactions eg. where the fund receives distributions from a discretionary trust, and for non-compliance.
In both these instances the tax rate is 46.5% although the non-compliance is levied against the value of the fund's assets and is therefore far more devastating to your level of wealth.
While a pension fund will generally pay no tax on earnings, it cannot avoid GST, non arms-length income penalties, non-compliance or tax on further concessional contributions.
