ATO looks at new service for SMSFs

Financial planners and accountants providing advice about self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) may soon be entitled to the same free, personalised and tailored advice from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) that is provided to registered tax agents.

ATO assistant commissioner Stuart Forsyth has told a recent Institute of Chartered Accountants conference that the new service to superannuation professionals is currently under investigation by the tax office — particularly where more complex SMSF issues are concerned.

“We have successfully trialled a similar concept with tax agents and currently have over 500 agents registered with the program,” he said.

Forsyth said that by the middle of 2010 the ATO would be offering the service on a trial basis to a number of SMSF specialists, and working with the industry via superannuation liaison forums to co-design the new arrangements.

He said the service would then be made more widely available if the trial proved successful.

In other comments to the conference, Forsyth pointed to continuing breaches within SMSFs. In particular, he flagged loans made to members, relatives or related parties and financial assistance to members and relatives of members.

“Year after year these contraventions are at or near the top of all contraventions reported in auditor contravention reports,” he said. “They account for about 22 per cent of contravention reports.”

“From a compliance point of view, what the trustee may consider a harmless loan is in fact a serious contravention — one on which we will take action.”

“Something that may have started out as a quick fix for an immediate cash flow problem may even lead to a fund being made non-complying or a trustee being disqualified,” Forsyth said. “Where we consider the loan to be illegal early access, we may also apply the income tax rules to the amount accessed.”