ASFA queries exclusion of SMSFs from data standards
The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) has queried why self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) will not be subject to the same Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) data collection requirements as other funds.
In a submission filed with APRA this week, ASFA has claimed that in circumstances where the enhanced data to be collected by APRA is meant to inform Government policy-making, SMSFs should be subject to a consistent approach.
It said that the superannuation industry was broadly split into two categories - policed superannuation investment vehicles regulated by APRA, and SMSFs regulated by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
As approximately one third of the assets of the superannuation system are held within SMSFs, ASFA queries why there is no parallel proposal by the ATO to replicate in SMSF annual returns the new requirements around the collection of data on investments, the submission said.
"ASFA considers that this lack of consistency of reporting may impede the development of superannuation policy," it said.
The ASFA submission has called for a more graduated approach to the implementation of the enhanced data collection arrangements.
"ASFA strongly recommends that rather than rushing the implementation of the new reporting standards, particularly with respect to investments, that a long-term strategic decision be taken to set a less ambitious implementation timeframe, and combine it with the introduction of mandated data standards for the reporting of information about investments from investment vehicles and investment managers through to custodians and fund trustees," it said.
The submission argued that the new arrangements be phased in during the September quarter of 2014.
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