ASFA calls for removal of regulatory leftovers from old super surcharges
The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) has appealed to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to act now to simplify reporting requirements for Rollover Benefits Statement (RBS) and Member Contributions Statement (MCS) under the auspices of new SuperStream legislation.
ASFA said including notionally attributed contributions created complexities for RBS and MCS reporting when funds were rolled over and was unnecessary due to the abolition of the superannuation contributions charge in July 2005.
"Our concern is with regard to the contributions that are notionally attributed to the rollover, as including these amounts on the RBS has an impact on the amounts reported to the ATO for the individual within the MCS by both the paying fund and the receiving fund," it said.
Including notionally attributed contributions on the RBS had created processing inefficiencies in reporting, but these could be amended now as regulators worked on improving the system, it said.
ASFA questioned the benefit to the ATO of reporting notional contributions. It said because the superannuation contributions surcharge was abolished, there was no need to include notional contributions on the MCS.
Doing so added a large amount of complexity to the MCS because treatments differed depending on whether an amount was rolled over before or after the end of the financial year, whether amounts were fully or partially rolled over, and a host of other variables.
ASFA requested the ATO act now while it is consulting with industry to improve reporting procedures.
"Given the major system changes being undertaken, there is no better time [to] incorporate this change and to simplify the compliance tasks for funds and the ATO by having a simple basic rule that the recipient of superannuation contributions has the reporting obligation," it said.
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