The ATO has praised the role of professional advisers in the creation and maintenance of SMSFs, but would like to see trustees being more aware of what takes place within their funds.
ATO SMSF segment assistant commissioner Dana Fleming said the regulator appreciated the gatekeeper role played by accountants, tax agents and financial advisers in helping consumers decide if setting up an SMSF was appropriate and this was reflected in the low levels of non-compliance picked up by the ATO.
“We see people at the registration process and the upfront conversation with an accountant, financial adviser or tax agent is so important to people making an informed decision when going into retirement,” Fleming said.
“Financial advisers and accountants are at the gate when assisting people who are taking on the privilege and responsibility of managing their own savings,” she added in comments made at the Accounting Business Expo 2019 in Sydney today.
She said the ATO had seen that over the past five years only 2 per cent of the 600,000 SMSFs overseen by the regulator had contravention reports lodged by an auditor in relation to the funds.
When questioned as to whether that was because trustees were aware of their obligations or because they had received assistance, she said: “I will be really honest and that is because their agents and advisers are helping them.
“For SMSFs, 99 per cent lodge through an agent or adviser so clearly they are playing a massive role, but we would like to see trustees take more interest too.”
She said the ATO’s interest in increasing trustee awareness stemmed from an ASIC report in 2018 that found many trustees did not know their obligations or underestimated the amount of time and work required to manage their own fund.
“There is a space for us to do more work in educating trustees. The key thing with an SMSF is to be aware of your obligations up front and knowing if it is the right decision and being aware it is going to be a lifetime commitment,” she said.
