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Jane Hume, assistant Minister for Superannuation, Financial Services and Financial Technology confirmed on 20th February 2020 that the work test exemption would be extended to age 67 years prior to 30th June 2020.

 

This would enable a 67-year-old to access the three years, bring forward trigger for non-concessional contributions up to $300,000. It is important that members who are currently 65 and thinking of implementing the bring forward strategy hold off until closer to the 30th June 2020, as you may be able to contribute $100,000 in 2020, $100,000 in 2021 and then $300,000 in 2022.

 

Finally, a change of government regulations that actually benefit members of the public!

SMSFs who lodge their annual return more than two weeks late will be suspended from receiving rollovers and employer contributions, according to advice from the ATO (18th September 2019).

 

From 1st October 2019, funds whose annual returns were overdue by over two weeks would have their status on The Super Fund Lock-up (SFLU) system changed to ‘regulation details removed’.

 

The ATO said funds could have their status on SFLU reinstated when all in overdue lodgement were brought up to date.

 

The ATO office would perform check on the first business day of each month and suspend or reinstate funds on the SFLU system depending on the lodgements that had been received in the previous month.

 

If SMSF trustees did not think they would be able to lodge their annual returns in time, the ATO said, they should call and seek a deferral to lodge.

 

During the time where the SMSF had their SFLU status suspended, members would need to inform their employer to make contributions into an alternative fund as the SMSF would not be able to accept employer contributions until its status was reinstated.

 

Once reinstated, the member would need to roll over any benefits received in the interim back into the SMSF, the ATO said.

As a point to note, the ATO has started collecting customer and transaction information from designated cryptocurrency service providers, where individuals and self-managed super funds (SMSFs) buy, sell and transfer cryptocurrency.

 

The ATO will collect this data and match it with taxpayer records to verify ‘purchase and sale’ information, to ensure people are meeting their tax obligations. The ATO will then be able to identify SMSF trustees or members who may need help to understand their obligations, so they can provide further advice and guidance of the rules around the tax treatment of crypto-assets. The ATO may also contact the trustee or members to verify the information they’ve collected.

 

If you acquire or dispose of cryptocurrency you must keep records of the transactions. If the ATO contacts you for further information, you have only 28 days to respond.

We recently took on a client who had 17 years worth of outstanding returns to process and the ATO was on their back. The Super Factory negotiated a timeline suitable to all parties, lodged all outstanding returns on time and saw the fund receive over $20,000 in refunds and $4,400 in ATO interest.

 

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The pain has started!

 

If the ATO deems you are more than 2 weeks late lodging your SMSF return, they will remove your details from Super Fund Lockup.

 

This means your fund is no longer able to receive employer contributions or rollovers whilst in this state.

 

If you need a quick turnaround on outstanding lodgements, call The Super Factory, we’re here to help!

ASIC has just de-registered over 100 SMSF auditors for failing in their regulatory obligations. ASIC continues to exert pressure on SMSF auditors increasing their regulatory burden of auditing and reporting.

 

Along with the imposition of a $2000 annual fee just to register as an auditor, the industry can expect auditor fees to increase over the next little while.

On 1st July 2017, the value of a Commonwealth penalty unit will increase from $180 to $210 and will automatically increase in line with the CPI (Consumer Price Index) from 1st July 2020, and every three years after.

 

1 Penalty Unit is applied every 28 days, so trustees should ensure their self managed super fund tax return is lodged on time each year.

An Investment Trends reports shows that 35,000 SMSFs changed to a specialist SMSF administrator provider in the past 12 months with ease of use and lower fees the most cited reasons.

 

Specialists such as The Super Factory are able to focus on the trustee’s annual financial and compliance obligations with time and cost efficiencies.

 

Call us now for a free, no-obligation quote on 1300 784 749.

 

A summary of the report can be found here.

A recent survey by S<SF Academy showed an average annual fee of $2,250.

 

This puts The Super Factory’s fees on $1,800 way ahead of the rest, saving you money that you can be putting to better use.

 

Call us now for a free, no-obligation quote.

 

A summary of the survey results can be found here.

One of the pieces of legislation that the current government did not repeal is that of an extra tax on high-income earners. The ATO has announced that 2013 tax assessments under Division 293 will begin to be issued in February.

 

These are assessments for an additional tax of 15% where income and concessionally taxed super contributions for a person exceed $300,000. Funds to pay this extra tax may generally be released out of the member’s superannuation interests, under a release authority that will be issued with the relevant assessment.

 

Details on how the tax is calculated can be found here.