The date by which Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA)-regulated superannuation funds need to incorporate SMSF rollovers into SuperStream data has been extended by a further six months until late 2021.
The start date was to be 31 March 2021, but the ATO stated it and the prudential regulator have been in contact with APRA-regulated funds, advising them of the two organisations’ support for a longer transition period.
“Earlier today [10 August] the ATO wrote to large super fund trustees to advise of ATO and APRA support for an extension to the transition period that funds have to move to version three of the SuperStream rollover message from 31 March 2021 to 30 September 2021,” it said.
The ATO noted changes to incorporate SMSF rollovers into the SuperStream data and payment standards would still take effect from 31 March 2021, but no compliance activity would take place until after the later date.
“While APRA encourages trustees to comply with the requirements as soon as possible, APRA does not expect failure to comply with these requirements to be reported as a breach prior to 30 September 2021,” the ATO stated.
Proposals to extend the operation of SuperStream to capture SMSFs were first put forward in July 2018 and regulations tabled before parliament in October 2018, at which time the original start date was put forward as 30 November 2019.
This date was pushed out to 31 March 2021 in the 2019 federal budget, with the government stating at the time the extension was required to allow the scheme to be expanded and ensure all components of the SuperStream system were operational at the same time.
The government’s deferral was made official through regulations released and passed by parliament in August 2019.
