The SMSF Association has said the Productivity Commission’s draft report into superannuation is a timely reminder to SMSF trustees to pay close attention to the fees and costs their funds incur to ensure retirement savings are being optimised.

The federal government has today released two draft proposals for public consultation around allowing victims of crime to access a perpetrator’s superannuation in certain circumstances.

SMSF advisers may have overlooked superannuation proceeds trusts previously, but they now need to be mindful of the structure due to the super reforms that came into effect from 1 July 2017, according to an industry lawyer.

The federal opposition’s proposed policy of allowing imputation credit refunds to be paid only to those SMSFs with a member receiving an age pension payment has drawn more criticism, this time from the partner of an accounting firm.

The ATO has revealed that 11,000 SMSFs have lodged a transfer balance account report (TBAR), despite event-based reporting for SMSFs officially due to start on 1 July.

An SMSF expert has questioned whether the federal government’s proposal to increase the maximum number of allowable members into an SMSF is a “knee-jerk” reaction to Labor’s franking dividend policy.

The 2018 budget proposal to transfer all inactive superannuation accounts where balances are below $6000 to the ATO will have unintended consequences for SMSFs that also have industry and retail super accounts, according to a lawyer.

SMSFs that take advantage of the budget measure to increase the number of members allowed in a fund must think through issues such as increased administrative complexity, behavioural factors when it comes to investing, risk profiles, additional trustee penalties and increased risk of trustee disputes.