Problems arising from SuperStream rollovers are proving difficult to resolve as confusion associated with communication channels has surfaced, an industry leader has said.
“When it works it seems to be working well … [but] the challenge becomes when something goes wrong and there is this massive communication piece that appears to have just gone completely off the rails,” Deloitte superannuation, SMSF and retirement savings partner Liz Westover said during a panel session at the recent Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand SMSF Conference 2021.
Westover used her team’s recent experience regarding a mysterious rollover to a public offer fund to highlight her observation.
“I actually received an email quite randomly from an APRA (Australian Prudential Regulation Authority)-regulated fund recently … for a rollover that had not been requested or pushed by us and it appears it may not even be [for] my client,” she said.
“So that’s problem number one: I don’t know [where it was] coming from and it’s very difficult to find who to talk to about it.”
According to Westover, issues are also arising from administration software in use.
“I’ve got other [problems], so far as my software is concerned, where a rollover into the [SMSF was made]. The APRA-regulated fund has had an issue with it and said they’ve sent an email, but they can’t tell us where that email was sent to,” she noted.
“It wasn’t to any of the members and it wasn’t to me or any of my staff. So somehow this communication issue is a problem when things go wrong.
“I actually don’t know where we stand with some of these things. I’ve made quite a few phone calls at the moment just trying to get to the bottom of how these issues are going to get resolved, but it’s just really challenging who we’re meant to talk to [about this].”
She recommended the most prudent way to guard against these situations is to make sure all of the correct details of the SMSF have been recorded and provided to the ATO.
