Compliance status check a critical step for avoiding SuperStream headaches
With the number of lapsed lodgers on the rise, SMSF professionals have been reminded to check SuperFund Lookup before initiating rollovers.
Speaking in a recent webinar, Aquila Super partner Chris Levy said the first thing that SMSF professionals need to do where clients are planning to undertake a rollover is check the compliance status of the fund in SuperFund Lookup.
Mr Levy said that some SMSF practitioners and trustees aren’t aware that without a complying status on Super Fund Lookup they can’t use the SuperStream process.
“That doesn’t just apply where an APRA-regulated fund is rolling to an SMSF. It also applies where the SMSF is rolling money out to another SMSF. That fund will need to have a complying status on SuperFund Lookup.”
“I dealt with a situation very recently where this was an issue where there was a rollover between family members. The kids were getting out of the fund and going to their own SMSFs and for some reason two of the three funds didn’t have that complying status due to returns not being lodged.”
He noted that once a fund is more than two weeks late lodging a return, the ATO will change the compliance status of the fund.
In this particular situation, Mr Levy said the trustees decided to simply bypass the whole SuperStream system and just transfer the money.
“Inevitably they ended up with a whole bunch of qualifications. I don’t imagine the ATO will beat them up too much but it just demonstrates how simple things like that can mess up the whole system.”
“So in the first instance, go to SuperFund Lookup and just make sure that the fund’s compliance status is okay.”
