Speaking in a recent Accountants Daily podcast, ASF Audits executive general manager of technical services Shelley Banton said that the time frame left for the government to pass the legislation for the three-year audit measure is growing increasingly shorter with the federal election expected in either April or May.
“The budget is mooted to be handed down on 2 April and the last day we can have an election is 18 May, in which case they’d have to dissolve Parliament on 15 April so there’s not a lot of time left,” Ms Banton said.
The parliamentary sitting calendar shows there are only 10 days when the House of Representatives is sitting and only three days when the Senate is sitting before 15 April.
“Trying to [pass] this legislation through when there is a backlog of other legislation is going to be very tricky and there’s more important legislation that needs to be passed, such as the SG amnesty,” she said.
“Getting this measure through, which isn’t a vote catcher, is looking quite difficult at this stage, fingers crossed.”
The measure to change the annual audit requirement to three years for SMSFs with a good compliance history was first announced in the budget this year and largely took the SMSF industry by surprise.
In July, Treasury released a consultation paper on the measure with details on the eligibility criteria and transitional arrangements.
Back in October, SuperConcepts general manager of technical services and education Peter Burgess said that they had briefed the government on the outcomes of that consultation, and that the government was still considering their position.
Treasury initially indicated that it would release draft legislation before the end of year, but with only five days left till the end of 2018, this is now looking very unlikely.
It also stated that it would introduce the bill to give effect to this measure in the March quarter.
“Now, that’s interesting because we’re going to have an election in the first six months of next year. As soon as they call the election, any legislation that has not been passed lapses. And then, if we have a new government, it will be up to the new Labor government whether they want to reintroduce this bill if they want to do that,” he explained.
Good, bloody fools!