Following XPLAN's recent announcement regarding new policies implemented by email providers for high-volume senders, they’ve released a significant enhancement. In response to the policies, Xplan have provided site administrators with the ability to directly input DKIM (DomainKeys Identified Mail) keys into Xplan system settings, eliminating the need to rely on Iress for this task. As a site administrator, Practice Dynamix now have the convenience of accessing the DKIM input function within system settings > client focus > email > DKIM. Moreover, this functionality extends to user groups, offering flexible control over DKIM key management though admin > email > DKIM. System settings   User group   Looking ahead, XPLAN are working on enabling DKIM key rotation (the rotate column) in the next Xplan release. While we and XPLAN strive to minimise disruption, there is a possibility that ongoing development on key rotations may necessitate re-entry of existing keys. We appreciate your understanding and cooperation in allowing us to expedite the delivery of this enhancement without further delay.

Given the recent expansion of investment bond offerings and steady containment of tax concessions for super and child income, investment bonds have become a more compelling strategy for Australian financial advisers. As advisers dig deep into their due diligence, we’re seeing increased demand for rigorous, impartial modelling of investment bonds. Advisers want to test their ideas to ensure their clients will be better off, and now, since the release of Xplan 24.2.309, you can easily model these detailed calculations in Xtools+.   While investment bond strategies could be used to meet shorter term goals and work around the limitations of super, advisers were cognisant of limitations. In previous years, investment options were limited to a few at most and tax sheltering may not be as generous as super and/or income spitting.    Advisers can now use Xtools+ modelling to answer questions like:    What if my client uses a bond to fund early retirement and starts drawing it down in the 8th year? Will my client really pay less tax than they would using a managed fund? How will the investment returns compare, net of fees and tax?   Will my client get the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card if they use an ‘investment bond in trust’ structure? Or should they use such a structure to reduce Aged Care fees? Will they pay more tax that way? Will the health care/aged care savings make up for the additional tax and administration cost? Should I use an annuity or an Aged Care annuity and insurance package instead?   For a detailed summary of the new investment bond features, see CALM: Considering an Investment Bond? Now Xtools+ can help! (https://community.iress.com/t5/Help-Guide-Xplan/CALM-Considering-an-Investment-Bond-Now-Xtools-can-help/ta-p/61099) For a simpler version, read on.    How to model a bond  • go to the relevant entity (Individual, Trust or Company) • select Investment Bonds from the menu • click Add Investment Bond. You can model a New or Existing Investment Bond     Model projected balances, including the fees, internal tax and franking credits.  • You can project the balance of up to 20 Investment Bonds. The 20 bonds can be spread across the Client, Partner, Joint, Trust and Company.  • The projected value of the investment bond will include the 30% earnings tax on income and growth as well as the benefit of franking credits. Since capital gains are fully taxable, 100% of the growth is taxed in every period of the projection.    Model a Funeral Bond • When you’re modelling a bond for Individual, you can set it as a Funeral Bond, and provided the bond qualifies, it will be exempted from the Income Support Asset and Income Tests.    Model Ongoing and/or Irregular Contributions and Withdrawals in present or future value   Automatically track the tax outcome • Calculations automatically track the 125%/10 year rule, and reset the withdrawal year when contributions exceed those for the previous year.  • When you model a withdrawal, the taxable amount is automatically calculated and, if it's within 10 years, included in taxable income.   Model the social security impact • You can model a Funeral Bond for the Client, Partner and/or Joint. When you model a Funeral Bond, the default settings will limit future contributions to the exemption limit (currently $15,000). • Investment Bonds that are not Funeral Bonds are always included as a Financial Asset, counted as an Asset and deemed under the income test.  • If the Investment Bond is held by a Trust or Company controlled by the Client and/or Partner, it’s counted under the Assets test as part of the entity’s assets. Any taxable withdrawals from the bond are also counted under the Income test as part of the entity’s taxable income.   Powerful Irregular Transactions ·         You can enter Irregular Contributions and Irregular Withdrawals from both the Input and Display screens (click on the Contributions or Withdrawals hyperlinks).  ·         The Irregular transaction inputs combine amounts for Special Dates with amounts for each Date. Use the Click to Update hyperlink to see how the amounts add up to populate the row in your projection.     Investment Returns  For the investment returns, you can use: • The Client, Partner or Joint Risk Profile (including a Risk Profile that was customised in Client Focus). The Risk Profile settings are available from Input > Basic Details.  • Any of the System investment profiles (set by your administrator). • If you are using an investment Profile, you can set a Custom return by changing the Return Type to Custom, then entering in custom Income, Growth and Franking percentages.   If the investment bond is held by the Client, Partner or Joint, you can use the Investment Returns setting from the menu on the left to: • Set a single investment profile for the whole scenario (including investment bonds), by selecting Overall Return. This means that when you change the return from the Visualiser interface, Investment Bonds also change. • Set the investment profile for all bonds separately to financial assets, super and pensions, by selecting Set by Asset Group. • If you’ve set the Investment Returns setting to Set each Asset, you can adjust all the Investment Profile settings for all of the Client, Partner and Joint holdings in one place, at Investment Returns > Detailed Return.   Practice Dynamix are in the process of updating the tables and documentation in our SOA in order to reflect the changes above and this will be released shortly, if not by the time you read this update.   For more information about the new Investment Bond functionality see CALM: Considering an Investment Bond? Now Xtools+ can help! (https://community.iress.com/t5/Help-Guide-Xplan/CALM-Considering-an-Investment-Bond-Now-Xtools-can-help/ta-p/61099)(https://community.iress.com/t5/Help-Guide-Xplan/CALM-Considering-an-Investment-Bond-Now-Xtools-can-help/ta-p/61099)

When a client passes away our recommendation is to remove their profile from their partner in order to avoid any inadvertent communication, reference or confusion occurs. The deceased person can remain on XPLAN with their own profile, and any file notes or portfolio data can remain on both client and partner profiles. The process that we recommend users follow on XPLAN is: Change the deceased persons entity status to ‘Deceased’ You should then unlink the deceased person leaving the remaining client as an ‘active’ profile. To do this go to Key Details>Click the client name at the top of the page and select “Purge Partner options”> next select Separate and then you would choose either 'Duplicate', 'Share' or 'Separate' to transfer a copy of file notes over depending on your preference for how the file notes are saved. This essentially splits the client and the deceased person in XPLAN whilst keeping both their profiles for you to access as usual. It removes the risk the remaining client will receive documentation with the deceased persons name on it. You can also select Widowed as a marital status in XPLAN:

Our process is for Users to merge their own client where a client profile has been duplicated either inadvertently or deliberately. Users should be aware that when you merge a client this only merges Client Focus data and NOT File notes, Portfolio data, Xtools or Wealthsolver scenarios. If you wish to merge clients who have data mentioned in the modules above you will need to manually do this by adding them to the profile you wish to keep. You can merge the client by going to the following area from the client list (Functions>Merge client) and searching for the clients you wish to merge. Then merge the source details of the client into the target client record. This will merge any client focus data but will not merge file notes or portfolio. File notes can be transferred manually by going into each file note and in the third tab of each file note; 'related', then add the name or entity ID of the client you have merged into and remove the original client, and then save.