The ATO has added 170 individuals to the register of those disqualified from being an SMSF trustee during the 2022 income year.
The addition of the new names takes the total number of those on the register, which has been in place since October 2012, to 3536 and includes the disqualified trustee’s name, location, date of disqualification and details of the formal disqualification notice that was published in the Commonwealth Government Gazette.
The disqualifications include individual trustees and directors of a corporate trustee and the ATO warned trustees of its disqualification powers due to non-compliance with superannuation laws or if the regulator has concerns an individual is an unsuitable trustee.
The formal notice, signed by a senior ATO commissioner, stated the trustee has been disqualified under subsection 126A(1) of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act for contraventions of the act on one or more occasions and due to the number and seriousness of the contraventions.
The register is publically available via the ATO’s website, which said: “The register is regularly checked by SMSF professionals, including SMSF auditors, to see if an individual has been disqualified by us.”
In a separate update, the ATO noted in the event of taking action against non-compliance, SMSF trustees can initiate an undertaking to rectify the event and commit to stop the behaviour that led to the contravention.
Provided the regulator accepts the undertaking, it will consider the compliance history of the trust, the nature of the contravention, whether it can be rectified and the methods to ensure this, and potential criminal consequences of the contravention.
