Australia Post’s straightforward service offering to act as a conduit between an employer and an SMSF to meet SuperStream obligations has resonated well with the market, ahead of the commencement date.

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has warned SMSF trustees to carefully evaluate the professional standards employed by organisations offering administrative services based overseas before making a commitment to using them.

As software companies compete with each other to drive the quality and timeliness of online reporting, SMSF trustees have accepted annual reporting as the benchmark.

The federal government’s decision to scrap the proposed system that would allow Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA)-regulated super funds to verify the existence of SMSF bank accounts could have adverse consequences, according to an industry expert.

The SMSF Professionals’ Association of Australia (SPAA) announced the winners of its annual industry awards on the final day of the organisation’s 2014 national conference in Brisbane last month.

The size and value of the residential real estate market, along with its prospects for growth, mean advisers should continue to view the asset class in a positive light for their SMSF clients, according to a property researcher.

Trustees who are caught out by inconsistencies in their SMSFs are facing costly legal disputes that can take years to settle, according to an industry lawyer.

The federal government, Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) are looking to further increase professionalism, reduce red tape and target one-stop shop operations in the SMSF space as the industry continues to grow and mature.

While the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has withdrawn its proposed action seeking to legally outlaw excessive contribution provisions within an SMSF trust deed as a means to prevent trustees from breaching the non-concessional contributions cap, the practical application of this course of action seems unworkable, according to an expert superannuation lawyer.