Financial planners that give tax advice in the course of giving financial advice will come within the tax agent services regime under the Tax Agent Services Act 2009 (TASA) with effect from 1 July 2014. The Financial Planning Association (FPA) will launch a comprehensive education campaign to prepare planners for this change, starting on Wed 19.2.2014, with…
The Australian National Audit Office’s Report No 19 assessing the effectiveness of the ATO’s complaints and other feedback management systems in supporting service delivery was tabled in Parliament today [Wed 12.2.2014]. The report noted that the ATO said the main reasons for complaints in recent years were: audit and review activities, in particular concerning the…
The Inspector-General of Taxation (IGT), Ali Noroozi, on Mon 10.2.2014, announced the commencement of public consultation for developing his new work program for 2014 and beyond. “My work program seeks to target areas that potentially provide the greatest improvement to tax administration for all Australians by consulting publicly and widely with taxpayers, tax professionals and…
The Assistant Treasurer on Fri 21.2.2014, released 3 reports from the Inspector-General of Taxation (IGT), Mr Ali Noroozi. They cover: the ATO’s compliance approach to individual taxpayers – use of data matching. The IGT said data matching was generally positively received where the ATO uses it to assist taxpayers, such as in pre-filling their income…
The ACNC Commissioner on Tue 18.2.2014, announced she will exercise her discretion to accept financial reports submitted to State and Territory governments in place of ACNC Annual Financial Reports for the 2014 reporting period. The announcement means that when charities complete their 2014 Annual Information Statements with the ACNC, they will be able to electronically…
The Tax Office has released its SMSF News – edition 29 (dated 26 February 2014) with details on recent SMSF issues, including: Contribution reserves: reporting contributions – the Tax Office says that contributions paid into a “contributions reserve” or “suspense account” should be reported to the ATO (via the SMSF annual return) for the financial year in…
Speaking at the SPAA National Conference on 21 February 2014, ASIC Commissioner Greg Tanzer said ASIC’s SMSF taskforce will introduce 2 new focus areas for 2014 – they include: One-stop shops for SMSF services – Mr Tanzer said the taskforce will appoint a small project team to explore the trend of “one-stop shops” offering a range of…
ASIC has confirmed that it is not proposing to prescribe a mandatory minimum account balance for the establishment of self-managed superannuation fund (SMSFs). Speaking at the SMSF Professionals’ Association of Australia (SPAA) National Conference, ASIC Commissioner Greg Tanzer, said the account balance is just one factor ASIC considers when reviewing advice to set up an…
Speaking at the SPAA National Conference on 21 February 2014, Acting ATO Second Commissioner Alison Lendon said the SMSF sector was in “good shape” but noted there was a small minority of funds and professionals that do the wrong thing. Some emerging areas of concern were noted – these included: illegal early release; fraud; not reporting correctly…
ATO Deputy Commissioner Superannuation, Alison Lendon, has noted the Government’s proposed legislation giving the ATO new powers to address non-compliance by SMSF trustees. If the legislation is adopted, administrative penalties will apply to breaches of super law from 1 July 2014. This means SMSF trustees will be personally liable for penalties between $850 and $10,200 depending on…