Daily Archives: February 22, 2017

Committee holds hearing into the 4th (last) tranche of the ‘MySuper’ amendments [57]

On 22 January 2013, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services held a hearing into the Superannuation Legislation Amendment (Service Providers and Other Governance Measures) Bill 2012. The Bill, still before the House of Reps, contains the 4th and final tranche of legislation implementing the government’s MySuper and governance reforms. The Committee heard from representatives from…

Tax at 78% (or even 93%) on excess super contributions: Coalition says it will fix a problem that has existed for 2.5 years [60]

Shadow Assistant Treasurer Senator Mathias Cormann says the reason a company director was hit with a 78% tax rate on inadvertent excess super contributions (the Verschuer AAT case – see above) was because the Government had not fixed a problem that has existed for the last 2 1/2 years. Senator Cormann said more than 65,000…

First MySuper Fund applications lodged with APRA [61]

The Assistant Treasurer has announced that APRA on Thur 3.1.2013, received the first MySuper applications from superannuation funds. MySuper is a new cost effective, simple superannuation product that super funds will be authorised to offer from 1 July 2013. Key MySuper features include: standardised disclosure of costs, fees, risk and returns, making comparisons easier; a ban on…

Reminder that some SMSF annual returns are due 28 February 2013 [62]

The ATO has reminded tax agents that if they have newly registered self-managed super fund (SMSF) clients, their 2012 Self-managed superannuation annual return is due on 28 February 2013. The ATO says SMSFs that did not have assets set aside for the benefit of their members and had not commenced operating in their first year of registration may request…

APRA moves on lending policies of Banks to SMSFs – more risky [63]

APRA has written to all locally incorporated Authorised Deposit-taking Institutions (ADIs) (ie banks, building societies, etc) to clarify the appropriate capital treatment of ADIs’ loans to self-managed super funds (SMSFs) that are secured by residential mortgages (SMSF loans) under Prudential Standard APS 112 Capital Adequacy: Standardised Approach to Credit Risk (APS 112) and Prudential Standard…

SMSF pensions will be treated as continuing despite not meeting minimum SIS standards under Tax Office concession announced [64]

The Tax Office has released an SMSF News Alert outlining the circumstances in which the Commissioner will exercise his powers of general administration to allow a superannuation income stream to continue, even though it has not met the minimum pension standards in the SIS Regulations. To this end, the Tax Office has published, Self-managed super…

SMSF auditor register commences 31 January: ASIC reminder [65]

ASIC has reminded auditors of self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) that applications for registration as an approved SMSF auditor can be made via the ASIC website from 9am AEST on 31 January. ASIC expects to receive a large number of applications for registration during the transitional period from 31 January to 30 June 2013. As such, it advises auditors to apply…

Latest Tax Expenditures Statement shows super concessions cost the most [66]

Treasury on Thur 31.1.2013, released the Tax Expenditures Statement 2012, dated January 2013 The Tax Expenditures Statement provides details of concessions, benefits and incentives delivered to taxpayers through the tax system. These are referred to as “tax expenditures”. The Statement lists 363 tax expenditures and, where possible, provides an estimate of the pecuniary value or order of…

$174,500 in penalties against 4 unregistered tax agents in 2012: TPB media release [67]

The Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) says that, during 2012, 4 unregistered tax agents were penalised by the Federal Courts for breaches of the Tax Agent Services Act 2009. The penalties totalled $174,500. Dale Boucher, Chair of the Board said, “We have ended 2012 by successfully bringing four unregistered tax agents to court. Our priority will…

Commercial law course requirement removed for certain tax agents: TPB [68]

Certain tax agents will be notified by the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB) of recent changes to the transitional registration rules. On 14 December 2012, the Government announced that it would permanently extend existing transitional rules for certain tax agents who became registered by the Tax Practitioners Board before 1 September 2010. A limited number of tax agents who became…