The ATO has revealed the regulator’s intentions for how its transfer balance account report (TBAR) regime will evolve with events-based reporting and other reporting over time, as well as clarifying whether capital gains tax (CGT) relief will be integrated.
“TBAR is specifically for the purposes of allowing individuals to report events that impact on their transfer balance account, and provides visibility and transparency in relation to their position with respect to the transfer balance cap,” ATO SMSF segment assistant commissioner Kasey Macfarlane told selfmanagedsuper.
“That is all it’s intended for.
“Having said that, there are broader things happening in the superannuation industry in terms of reporting.”
Macfarlane said examples of this were more broadly across the system with Super Stream where the next iteration of that involves large super funds reporting information to the ATO and also the implementation of single-touch payroll.
“So there are all these elements that are converging in the superannuation system and in the short term there aren’t any plans in relation to SMSFs expanding the reporting requirements,” she noted.
“But as these things are happening, in the medium to long term it does raise the question around what are the opportunities to streamline and making SMSF reporting more efficient into the future by building off some of these platforms in the broader super system.”
Commenting on whether CGT relief applications would interconnect with TBAR or the ATO’s broader reporting systems, she said: “The CGT relief is an interesting one because, of course, it’s a transitional relief that’s available so it’s a one-off.
“What the ATO is requiring SMSFs, and all super funds for that matter, in relation to that is simply whether or not they are electing to avail themselves of CGT relief and depending on the method they’re using, the total amount of any deferred CGT that has arisen from applying the relief.
“That’s the only information that the ATO is asking to be reported.
“It’s then up to the fund to then keep the individual records around each individual asset that they’ve applied the relief to, what the reset cost bases are and also the amount of any deferred gains for when assets are sold later down the track.
“So there are no intentions to incorporate the CGT relief reporting into any of the broader super systems.”
On Monday, the ATO released a position paper on two possible time-frame scenarios for SMSFs to report events 10 days after the end of the month in which the relevant event occurs or 28 days after the end of the quarter.
The industry has until 15 September to provide feedback to the regulator.
The TBAR regime requires events-based reporting by SMSFs from 1 July 2018, however, SMSFs are able to commence reporting to the ATO in October 2017.
The ATO’s position paper can be found here.
