ATO confirms review of 11,000 SMSFs
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has confirmed it intends to review around 11,000 self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) over the coming year to ensure they are complying with their tax obligations.
The review was confirmed by ATO assistant commissioner Matthew Bambrick, who told an Institute of Public Accountants (IPA) conference that the ATO worried about SMSF trustees who failed to understand or comply with their obligations, including annual returns.
The IPA conference was also told by Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) commissioner John Price that the regulator continued to hold concerns about property spruikers being active in the sector.
"What we don't want is property spruikers seeing SMSFs as their free domain," he said.
The ATO's Bambrick said that if people were buying property through an SMSF they needed to ensure that the arrangement was correctly established and that the property was appropriate for the fund's investment strategy.
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