The ATO has announced it is working towards making data collected from its transfer balance account report (TBAR) regime available to individuals and tax agents in early 2018.
“It will be made available for individuals through MyGov, once APRA (Australian Prudential Regulation Authority) funds start reporting, and my understanding is that live data will also be on the tax agents’ portal, so if you are an authorised contact of an individual, yes, it should be made available to you,” ATO SMSF segment director Maria Iacopino told the Self-managed Independent Superannuation Funds Association Annual SMSF Forum in Melbourne this week.
“APRA funds have 10 days after 30 November to commence reporting; the functionality has been built, so as soon we start getting information, it should be made available.
“I won’t say it will be ready before Christmas, but certainly in the new year there should be some visibility there relating to an individual’s transfer balance cap.
“So that’s from an APRA fund perspective of course, unless an SMSF does report [ahead of the 1 July 2018 commencement date for SMSFs].”
Iacopino also revealed the ATO intended to be proactive with the TBAR process under the events-based reporting requirements whereby individuals in danger of exceeding the cap would be identified and contacted.
“If we have visibility over the transfer balance account and if a person is approaching the cap, it’s one of the services we want to provide,” she said.
Earlier this week, selfmanagedsuper reported that the ATO would closely monitor the activity on the TBAR regime, whether it decided on monthly or quarterly reporting, in case it needed to be changed in order to be more effective.
“If we see that a lot of SMSF members are exceeding their cap, then we might decide to go from a quarterly to a monthly reporting frequency,” Iacopino said on Monday.
“But if we see that the effects are lower, then we might move from monthly to quarterly or even annual reporting.
“It really does depend on what evaluations we make during the transitional period.”
