Government tipped to ramp up automatic reporting requirements
The tighter reporting requirements recently introduced for superannuation are only the beginning of the government’s plans to further automate reporting in the future, SMSF firms have been told.
As part of the recent legislative changes for super funds, Class chief executive Kevin Bungard says there is now a requirement for any money that has been transferred into the pension phase to be reported within ten business days.
Mr Bungard told SMSF Adviser this is a fairly tight requirement that’s been mandated and is part of the government’s longer term expectations that businesses use electronic channels for communicating with each other and with the government.
“We first started to see this through SuperStream – the government is now expecting firms to be able to deliver information in an automated fashion,” he said.
“We’re only going to see more of that going forward. [SMSF practitioners] will need to get use to electronic reporting and the government mandating it because there’s only going to more of it.”
Mr Bungard said the government will also expect information from businesses more frequently.
“Doing things at the end of the year in an Excel spread sheet is really not going to cut it moving into the future,” he warned.
Firms operating this way could find it increasingly difficult to meet their obligations.
“The government obviously sees [technology] as important in terms of what they’re doing and they’re raising their level of expectations in terms of what practitioners are doing,” Mr Bungard said.
The expectations of clients for firms to provide automated data are also rising.
“Clients want mobile access, they want engagement, they want that through the devices that they’re using, and they want that to be at their fingertips so I think you’ll see a lot more of that tight client engagement in the future,” Mr Bungard said.
Miranda Brownlee
Miranda Brownlee is the deputy editor of SMSF Adviser, which is the leading source of news, strategy and educational content for professionals working in the SMSF sector.
Since joining the team in 2014, Miranda has been responsible for breaking some of the biggest superannuation stories in Australia, and has reported extensively on technical strategy and legislative updates.
Miranda also has broad business and financial services reporting experience, having written for titles including Investor Daily, ifa and Accountants Daily.
