The ATO is overall satisfied with the general compliance of the SMSF sector, but outgoing superannuation director Howard Dickinson said the regulator is leaning on professionals to ensure trustees are managing their own funds for the right reasons.
“You know that they have pitfalls, and I’ll give you a challenge. There are people considering SMSFs who shouldn’t be in them — you can help them see that, and help them move out of them,” he told delegates at the SMSF Summit in Adelaide last week.
“You are the circuit breaker. We see it, but we often see it too late. Like a year [or] a year and a half later,” he said.
Mr Dickinson said to particularly be aware of those trustees who are following unqualified advice, given SMSFs are becoming increasingly popular with the broader population.
“It’s you that can help an SMSF trustee with that great piece of knowledge they’ve learnt at the pub, we don’t see it, they don’t tell us,” he said.
I would have thought that ASIC should be focusing on the people who are putting people who shouldn’t be in SMSF’s into them. Oops, that’s actually doing their job.
But we’re not allowed to tell them they shouldn’t have a Super Fund – that’s financial product advice for which we need a license…….Oooops.
hmmm so the ATO is expecting the accountants to call out trustees who are following bad advice – but isn’t that implying that the accountant in calling it out is in fact ALSO providing financial advice? Sounds like someone wants their cake and to eat it too.
The biggest call out is that the Tax Office needs to step out of SMSF regulation.
It is in a conflicted position with its primary purpose of tax generation. It doesn’t have the necessary fiduciary oversight of the sector to be an effective regulator.