In a statement released this afternoon, ASIC said the advertisements related to Esuperfund’s business of providing SMSF establishment and administration services online to clients.
Each advertisement ran between 31 January 2014 and 8 May 2014, ASIC stated.
ASIC said it was concerned one advertisement inaccurately represented that clients who engaged Esuperfund to establish an SMSF in 2014 would not incur any fees or costs in establishing or operating the SMSF.
ASIC was also concerned an article titled ‘9 Benefits of Setting Up A Self Managed Super Fund’ misrepresented the costs and benefits of SMSFs compared to retail and industry superannuation funds, and that a third advertisement falsely represented that ASIC reviewed Esuperfund’s operations annually to ensure that it complied with its licensing obligations.
Esuperfund removed the statements from its website following these concerns from the corporate regulator.
“Setting up an SMSF is an extremely important financial decision and advertisements must accurately reflect the service being offered,” said ASIC deputy chairman Peter Kell.
Can anything be done therefore to ASIC for their unfair & perhaps illegal action. How about we take a hat around to start some legal challenge!
Yip – no free lunch!
The infringement relates that when a Fund is setup there is an annual levy payable to the ATO and investment costs (like brokerage to buy and sell shares). There may also be costs where clients elect to have a corporate trustee. These costs are all disclosed on the ESUPERFUND website. So the claim on the website that ESUPERFUND setup the SMSF for free (ie register the SMSF with the ATO, provide a Trust Deed etc) is in my opinion absolutely true as ESUPERFUND receives no fee for the setup. The penalty therefore seems very unfair.
Can anyone say what it was these people tried to get paid for instead of what they claimed in their advertisment. IE give us an idea of whether or not their sin was substantial or trivial!