The self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) sector is set to emerge relatively unchanged from the federal government’s superannuation reforms, with industry participants now keen to focus on how the changes are to be implemented.
The government yesterday unveiled details of its Stronger Super package, saying the reforms would introduce independence requirements for SMSF auditors to ensure SMSF audits could be relied upon to provide an objective assessment of compliance with the superannuation legislation.
The government also intends to introduce a requirement for related-party transactions to be conducted through a market, or accompanied by a valuation if no market exists, to increase the transparency of these transactions and ensure related-party transactions are not used to circumvent legislative requirements.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia has supported the government’s move not to impose further independence obligations on SMSF auditors.
“We’re committed to having an industry carrying out quality audits, and auditor independence is a vital component of this,” the institute’s head of superannuation, Liz Westover, said.
“The announcement highlights that the existing governance framework in the SMSF industry is robust.”
Self-Managed Super Fund Professionals’ Association of Australia technical director Peter Burgess said while the government had accepted 23 of its 29 recommendations under the Cooper review, it remained unclear how the sector was going to implement the recommendations.
Burgess said it would be safe to assume there would be no material changes to the investment rules surrounding SMSFs.
However, he said the government’s move to ban off-market or in specie transfers in SMSFs was a disappointing element of the reforms.
“We are disappointed that the SMSF sector has been significantly [singled] out here and they will be banned in that particular sector,” he said.
Yet he said the industry was given a confidence boost from a paragraph in the reforms that stated Australian Prudential Regulation Authority funds would be encouraged to devise guidelines on in specie transfers.
He said another element anticipated from the reforms was an increase in powers for the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
“It wasn’t announced [yesterday], but I think I can say with a fair bit of confidence there will be new powers handed to the ATO to levy penalties on SMSF trustees who don’t do the right thing,” he said.
FPA chief executive Mark Rantall also welcomed the changes, though he said the association would like to see further detail. “The FPA looks forward to seeing the detail along with the replacement to the accountant’s exemption as part of FOFA tranche II,” Rantall said.
“SMSFs deserve to be serviced by highly competent, experienced and qualified professionals – which include financial planners, accountants and auditors. These changes will bring greater confidence to the SMSF sector.”
