Fostering greater collaboration between the ATO and industry bodies, such as the SMSF Association, to help navigate the incoming super measures is essential to building fund members’ trust in the system and ensuring the changes are successfully implemented.

The SMSF Association and the ATO have announced a three-year strategic partnership, which aims to maintain and improve the integrity and professionalism of the SMSF sector, as well as influence appropriate behaviour.

The SMSF Association has revealed it is already working closely with the ATO and will do so on an ongoing basis now the industry is well and truly at the implementation stage with the recent superannuation changes.

The SMSF Association has welcomed the ATO’s decision to give trustees an extra three months to declare any tax planning schemes where personal income has been diverted to their SMSF.

New draft guidelines changing the ATO’s interpretation of what constitutes a fixed trust may help the tax treatment of trust distribution income for SMSFs, according to a specialist law firm.

The ATO has issued a reminder to SMSF advisers and trustees about how the non-arm’s-length income (NALI) provisions apply to limited recourse borrowing arrangements (LRBA) in light of the looming compliance deadline for these gearing strategies.

The ATO is currently running a survey to determine the state of limited recourse borrowing arrangements (LRBA) within SMSFs to see whether the regulation of these strategies is sufficient.

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is working with practice software providers to integrate data and functionality that will allow tax agents access to the services of its online portal through their own business software.