No link between SMSFs and fraud: SPAA
While self-managed superannuation funds (SMSF) have often been associated with fraud, the Self Managed Super Funds Professionals' Association of Australia (SPAA) is quick to point out that all superannuation funds are at risk of fraud.
SPAA chairman Sharyn Long said there is no link between fraud and SMSFs.
“It’s not people who have SMSFs who are doing anything wrong, it’s fraudsters who are coming in and using that vehicle.”
But while a solution needs to be put in place to combat fraud, it shouldn’t be at the expense of the majority of those who have SMSFs, according to SPAA chief executive Andrea Slattery.
It “shouldn’t be a detriment to the remaining 99 per cent of the population who are behaving themselves”, Slattery said.
Some solutions SPAA has suggested include the use of a tax file number as a compulsory verification code in the ABN process, banks creating a new SMSF trust bank account product and more attention being given to the issue by the Australian Federal Police.
SPAA also suggested that Australian Prudential Regulation Authority funds needed a more robust verification process and that the Australian Taxation Office’s verification processes needed to be reviewed.
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