CPA Australia and Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CAANZ) have raised their collective objections about the Treasury Laws Amendment (Your Future, Your Super) Bill 2021 in a joint submission to the Senate Standing Committees on Economics.
The main objections of the accounting bodies stem from the 14 sections they claim will allow regulations to be written for the Your Future, Your Super bill.
“We are concerned that to date there has been no consultation in relation to the exposure draft regulations, making it difficult for us to offer a definitive opinion on the operation of the proposed measures,” the submission stated.
“We do not believe that there is sufficient information contained in either the bill or the explanatory memorandum to assist a reasonably informed reader to determine the intended operation of most of these.”
Both organisations also claimed the current best interest duties imposed on superannuation fund trustees would be lowered by schedule three of the bill, which requires individuals in these positions to act in the best interest of their members with regard to expenditure, decision-making and investment.
With specific reference to SMSFs, CPA Australia and CAANZ said the proposed record-keeping requirements may be too broad for these retirement savings structures.
The joint submission also took exception to the uncertainty in the bill in relation to how rules such as non-arm’s-length income restrictions intersect with the proposed best financial interest duties and potential conflicts with the sole purpose test in the treatment of death insurance cover.
The accounting bodies did, however, support the measure that will allow employees to have all of their superannuation contributions be made to a single super fund for the duration of their working lives, and the initiative for performance comparisons to be made by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority with relation to MySuper products.
