Parliamentary failure limits ATO’s SMSF options
The Australian Taxation Office’s (ATO’s) powers to deal with recalcitrant self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) trustees remain either a “feather duster” or the “nuclear option” because the Parliament failed to pass the necessary changes before it rose for the winter recess, according to SMSF specialist Aaron Dunn.
In a comment issued on his company web site this week, Dunn said it must be very frustrating for the ATO Commissioner to see the significant amount of work that had been done to introduce a new penalty regime for SMSFs come to little because it did not come into effect from 1 July, as expected.
“Everybody I have spoken to within the profession, trustees and the regulator alike, all saw these measures as a positive step forward for the industry to deal with issues of non-compliance,” he said. “So, it is unfortunate that as the ATO release their compliance program for 2013-14, that the Commissioner’s powers still pretty have the 'feather duster’ and 'nuclear’ options to deal with issues of non-compliance.”
Dunn noted that for the 2013-14 financial year, the ATO had indicated it would undertake 1100 checks on fund’s income tax obligations, 15,100 checks of regulatory obligations (up from 9,000 in the prior year) and 160 compliance checks on the now ASIC-regulated SMSF auditors. Compliance activities in the previous income year raised $16.4 million and made 132 funds non-complying due to the severity of the breaches.
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