SMSF trustees will need to investigate the reason as to why a rollover made via SuperStream to an Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA)-regulated fund failed as the receiving institution is unlikely to be a good source for this type of information, a superannuation expert has said.
“With all of the errors that keep occurring [with SuperStream rollovers] in many cases there is limited information that is being provided by APRA funds as to why a message that has been sent to an APRA fund has failed or has been rejected,” Tax and Super head of superannuation Natasha Panagis noted during a recent technical webinar.
Panagis pointed out the ATO’s conscious effort to work with both SMSF and APRA fund administrators to find solutions to the SuperStream issues currently being experienced and improve the data exchange between the relevant entities is producing results.
“APRA funds are getting better at providing information back [to SMSFs] when a message actually fails. This is helping SMSF trustees resolve any rollover issues that they might be facing,” she acknowledged.
She suggested SMSF trustees can help ensure SuperSteram rollovers are processed smoothly by keeping the fund’s details up to date.
“[One issue hampering SuperStream rollovers] is that the SMSF’s bank account is not recorded with the ATO. Before [benefits can be rolled over to an SMSF] the transferring fund must perform a number of checks which are really around making sure the fund is not part of an illegal early release scheme and that the member’s identity has not been compromised,” she noted.
“So one of these checks is making sure that the SMSF’s bank account as is shown on the rollover request matches that on the ATO system.
“So making sure that information is the same [is important] because if the [correct] information is not in the system because the SMSF trustee may not have provided it to the ATO, then the rollover won’t occur.
“The message here is to make sure that the SMSF trustees update [the fund] details with the ATO so they can receive funds electronically.”
