6-member SMSF measure falls flat
With the government agreeing to remove the amendment to increase the SMSF member limit from the bill it was contained in, the measure appears to be scrapped for now.
After the Economics Legislation Committee recommended that the measure to extend the number of members in an SMSF to six be passed, the Liberal Party had just two sitting days to pass the measure this week.
With Labor opposed to the six-member SMSF measure, the Liberal Party yesterday agreed to remove the amendment for this measure from the Treasury Laws Amendment (2019 Measures No. 1) Bill 2019 in order to try and pass the bill.
The bill contained a raft of other unrelated measures including an amendment to extend concessional rates of excise to craft beer brewers.
Liberal MP Scott Buchholz said that it was “regrettable that the opposition would not support a sensible change to that law and thus provide additional choice for flexibility for Australians to manage their retirement savings”.
“The government continues to support this change and will seek progress on that at a later time,” Mr Buchholz said.
SuperConcepts general manager for technical services and education Peter Burgess previously predicted that the six-member SMSF amendment could be removed, given that it was the only controversial measure in the bill.
The measure to increase the SMSF member limit had mixed opinions, with some experts flagging the potential risks that additional members pose in terms of disputes between members and estate planning.
Some SMSF members intended to use the measure to add accumulation members to their fund to reduce the impact of Labor’s policy changes to franking credits.
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.
