According to an announcement posted on the ATO website on Monday, the regulator noted it will be contacting SMSF trustees who do not have a unique account for super payments to ask them to update their fund’s bank account information.
“Each SMSF trustee has a responsibility to protect the fund’s assets and meet their obligations under super law,” the ATO stated.
“This includes maintaining a unique SMSF bank account to manage the fund’s operations and accept contributions, rollovers of super and income from investments. The fund’s bank account must be kept separate from the trustees’ individual bank accounts and any related employers’ or advisers’ bank accounts.”
An ATO spokesperson told SMSF Adviser the regulator wanted to stress the importance of having a unique bank account “so as to ensure that all members of an SMSF and their assets are protected”.
The spokesperson confirmed that there could be “flow-on impacts” for funds that did not supply a unique bank account to the ATO by March 2021, when they would be prohibited from receiving APRA fund rollovers.
“We will be issuing correspondence over the coming weeks to trustees and directors of approximately 13,000 SMSFs to bring this to their attention so they are aware of the future impacts,” the spokesperson said.
“We will also advise them how this information can be updated.”
The website announcement stated that advisers could update their SMSF clients’ account details in the ATO’s online services for tax agents by going to their client’s profile and updating their financial institution details.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article stated that the ATO would contact trustees without a unique bank account in the coming weeks. SMSF Adviser has since been informed by the ATO that due to resourcing constraints, trustee correspondence will now be sent out early next year.
Years ago I came across a client who ran his SMSF through his business account-they had almost identical names too!. Neither he nor the accountant saw any problem at the time. SMSF Financials were dodgy at best with lots of backdated journal entries. I can see why the ATO wants to tidy this up. Accountants: work with a planner and we can set up a bank account as soon as the trust deed and ASIC paperwork is done. No new funds should be without a bank account from day one imo.
I think this relates to new funds that have been setup and no bank account created. Not existing funds that have been running for years.,
How can this still be the case – funds with assets mixed with personal assets! The auditors that work with our SMSF clients are insistent on the fund not only having a separate bank account but also that the account is styled “XYZ Pty Limited ” (ie including the name of the fund in the bank account name). Inclusion of the fund name is not required under SIS, but the ATO’s ruling to auditors make this a requirement. Why aren’t auditors lodging contravention reports on funds where the bank account is not separate? This is a SIS requirement! Shouldn’t they also lodge contraventions where the account doesnt include the name of the fund as required by the ATO guidelines?
Was thinking the same thing… Why delay this until 2021 when it should have always been a requirement?
Unless there are SMSF’s out there who simply haven’t notified the ATO of their SMSF bank account via tax returns or some other method?