The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has agreed to establish a new communication channel to assist self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) advisers and their clients who are having difficulty in lodging their compulsory annual returns.
The regulator commited to this form of action at a meeting of its superannuation consultative committee late last year.
The new communication channel will come in the form of a dedicated email address advisers can use to alert the ATO to any issues that are preventing their clients from complying with their lodgment requirements.
Specifically, advisers should be looking to use the new service in circumstances where no other options or channels of communication are available, and where the adviser’s client has actually wound up the SMSF they had but have not lodged their final returns yet.
In the first instance, the ATO compliance division should be able to offer any assistance needed or at least direct the adviser and the client to the section of the regulatory body that can resolve the situation.
In the second instance, advanced notification will assist the ATO in recording the correct status of the fund, as well as determining appropriate reporting obligations for the fund in question.
The email address facilitating the new communication service is lodgementconcernsforSMSFs@ato.gov.au.
