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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
The new Chair of the Tax Practitioners Board (TPB), Mr Ian Taylor, and new members of the Board, commenced their appointments on Tue 22.1.2013. The Board said over the next few weeks, Mr Taylor will be meeting with the heads of associations to hear about how they currently work with the TPB, and to listen…
The ATO says tax agents may receive a letter in January or February 2013 if they have clients who, in their 2010 or 2011 income tax returns, had a total business income above $75,000 and are not registered for GST. The ATO is asking that tax agents work with these clients to review their business…
On 21 December 2012, the Government released for public consultation draft legislation relating to acquisitions and disposals of certain assets between self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) and related parties. The amendments are designed to implement the Government’s Stronger Super reforms relating to acquisitions and disposals of certain assets by SMSFs and related parties. The superannuation law is proposed…
The ATO on Fri 11.1.2013, registered Superannuation Data and Payment Standards 2012. The purpose of the Standard is to facilitate effective e-commerce as part of the SuperStream reforms in relation to core transactions such as contributions and rollovers across the superannuation industry. The Standard specifies the minimum requirements for dealing with payments and information relating…
The Government on Thur 17.1.2013, issued for comment draft amending regulations proposing to remove the member protection standards from the SIS regs. The Government said the changes will implement a recommendation of the Super System Review. It said that MySuper fees rules, which are to commence on 1 July 2013, will help protect members from unnecessary fees…