SuperStream has reduced the barriers to making SMSF rollovers, but practitioners should be prepared to receive minimal feedback on the process.
The Class “2023 Annual Benchmark Report” found that while rollovers into an SMSF were smaller than rollovers out, reflecting the establishment and wind-up points of a fund, these amounts have fallen.
“Since the introduction of SuperStream [on 1 october 2021], the average rollover-in amounts and average rollover-out amounts have been significantly lower than in the previous three financial years,” the report stated.
Data included with the report showed rollovers into SMSFs fell to $150,000 from $200,000 during the 2019 to 2021 financial years to around $130,000 for the 2022 and 2023 financial years.
At the same time, average rollovers out of SMSFs decreased from between $350,000 to $400,000 during the 2019 to 2021 financial years to around $220,000 for the 2022 and 2023 financial years.
“This may indicate that SuperStream has brought down the transactional cost associated with rollovers, making smaller rollovers cost-effective,” the report stated.
It also showed total estimated release authority counts had declined by 29.1 per cent after peaking at nearly 50,000 in the 2021 financial year and falling to 35,000 in the 2023 financial year, noting digital release authorities via SuperStream had reduced errors and duplication that occurred with previous manual paper processes.
Speaking at the recent Class Ignite conference, Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand superannuation and financial services leader Tony Negline said despite the improvements, SMSF practitioners who were not used to SuperStream should be careful when starting to use it.
“If you are involved in rollovers on an ongoing basis, you will be used to SuperStream and getting rollovers under control,” Negline said.
“For those of you who do rollovers irregularly, it’s like cooking dinner at Christmas time and you forget what you did last year so you have to look at the recipe to know where the problems are.
“However, sometimes you won’t be able to tell where the problems are because SuperStream is like those old computers that were known as dumb terminals.
“You entered stuff in, but never got anything out because it was a dumb terminal and that’s what SuperStream is like. It works, but it’s a dumb terminal and won’t tell you why there is a problem.
“So, if you’re an auditor looking at a SuperStream rollover where people are still transitioning to understand how it works, I would encourage you to be as gentle as a feather. I’m not telling you not to report breaches, but just encouraging you to be gentle for a little while.”
