Mark Ellem, head of education for Accurium, said in a recent webinar that there are many reasons why an SMSF client may wish to start a pension, but before offering any guidance, accountants and advisers need to consider licensing requirements.
“Pensions can start for many reasons and what we need to be wary of, for those of us who are unlicensed accountants, is that we’re not licensed financial advisers, and we need to be careful about how we talk and communicate to our clients that they are eligible to start a pension,” Ellem said.
He said it is best to keep things simple, and talk to clients about the rules of starting a pension if they do present asking questions.
“You might do a campaign out to your clients who are coming up to their 65th birthday to let them know that once they turn 65 they have met a condition of release, and let them know about the options they have regarding starting a pension,” he said.
“You’re not telling them to actually start the pension. You’re not recommending they start the pension. You’re merely telling them what the law allows and what their fund deed allows for them to do, as well as the various implications around transfer balance cap and tax implications.”
There are a number of resources and reference materials that unlicensed accountants can access if they are presented with questions from clients.
“Whenever you’ve got a question, you need to know what you can say to a client. Can I do this? Can I do that? Is this going to take me over the line of providing financial advice? Because, keeping in mind, starting a pension is acquiring a financial product, and you need to be licensed to do that,” he said.
“Additionally, commuting a pension, either partially or in full, is disposing of part of a financial product, and you also need to be licensed.”
He said ASIC provides some resources, such as information sheet 216, which is about the licensing requirement for accountants who provide SMSF services, detailing what services they can provide.
“CPA Australia or the Chartered Accountants of Australia and New Zealand have a joint publication that’s been out for a while called ‘Financial advice in regulations guidance for the accounting profession’,” Ellem said.
