The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) is giving superannuation trustees under their regulation guidance about rollover procedures, in light of the new self-managed super fund (SMSF) member verification system introduced by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
To this end, it recently sent out a letter to all trustees informing them about the new system and how it would impact the process of rolling over member balances into SMSFs.
For some time there have been reports APRA-regulated super funds have been asking for unnecessary information from SMSFs before processing rollovers. In some cases, it has been said the APRA-regulated funds have requested information they are not legally entitled to review.
The letter attempts to address this situation, with APRA general manager supervisory support division Greg Brunner writing: "As a result, requests for additional documentation such as a trust deed should not be necessary."
"This new system will provide trustees and administrators with a level of confidence that an individual is recorded by the ATO as a member of a particular SMSF."
APRA does emphasise, though, that super fund trustees must still carry out proper proof of identity checks as part of their rollover procedures.
Specifically, APRA has outlined a four-stage process, beginning with a proof of identity check and followed by confirmation the SMSF is regulated on Super Fund Lookup. The next step is the use of the new member verification system, and finally a check of the payment details.
APRA issued its letter just days before the Self-Managed Super Fund Professionals' Association of Australia issued a similar communiqué to all superannuation fund trustees on the same topic.
