SMSF practices must factor in the amount of time advisers will need to dedicate to working out capital gains tax (CGT) relief for their clients as every fund will be different, a technical expert has warned.
“When you’re looking at your clients, you’ll have to look at them from a fund-by-fund basis and carefully look at their circumstances when you talk to them,” SuperConcepts SMSF technical services executive manager Mark Ellem told the Institute of Public Accountants 2017 National Congress on the Gold Coast today.
“There is going to be no one-size-fits-all solution for all funds.
“So you need to be thinking about how much extra time you’re going to need in your practice in order to get the 2016/17 accounts finalised.”
In August, Ellem highlighted the challenges of the CGT relief provisions, particularly when it came to advising new clients as they would be relying on trustees’ past records and administration.
At the time, he also emphasised the information reported to the ATO about an SMSF invoking the CGT relief provisions lacked detail as it only includes whether relief has been taken, the resulting notional gain and the amount deferred.
It means the trustee’s records and not the ATO’s will be what advisers need to rely upon for the detailed information required in these cases.
