July 2020 - Practical Systems Super

Lesser known change, and an unfortunate delay, leave their mark

Jul 29,2020 Comments Off

There were several important bills passed during the June 2020 parliamentary sitting, none more so than the bill that provides a much needed 12 months extension for financial advisers to pass the FASEA exam.

One bill, the Treasury Laws Amendment (registries modernisation and other measures) Bill 2019, which passed both houses of parliament on 12 June 2020 without much attention, contains a new initiative which will impact SMSFs with a corporate trustee.

This new initiative will require all directors, including the directors of a corporate trustee that acts as the trustee of an SMSF, to obtain a Director Identification Number (DIN). It applies to a person who is a director of a registered body which, for the purposes of this law, includes a company, registered foreign company or registered Australian body which is registered under the Corporations Act.

The new DIN regime is being introduced to deter and detect phoenix activity which occurs when the controllers of a company deliberately avoid paying liabilities by shutting down an indebted company and transferring the assets to another company. According to the Explanatory Memorandum that accompanied the bill, it is estimated that phoenixing costs the Australian economy somewhere between $2.9 billion and $5.1 billion annually.

A person will keep their unique DIN permanently even if they cease to be a director and it’s not intended that a person’s DIN will ever be re-issued to someone else or that one person will ever be issued with more than one. As such, the DIN will provide traceability of a director’s relationships across companies, enabling better tracking of directors of failed companies and will prevent the use of fictitious identifies.

It will also help regulators and external administrators to investigate a director’s involvement in repeated unlawful activity including illegal phoenix activity. Although the law has in the past required directors’ details to be lodged with ASIC, it has not required the regulator to verify the identity of directors.

Under the new regime the Minister will appoint an existing Commonwealth body to be the registrar. The registrar will be responsible for the administration of the regime including the processing of DIN applications. After receiving an application, the registrar must provide the director with a DIN if the registrar is satisfied that the director’s identity has been established. This is the case unless a DIN has already been issued to the director as the integrity of the regime requires each director to hold no more than one DIN.

To allow sufficient time for the development of systems, processes and new technology, the DIN regime will not commence until 12 June 2022, unless an earlier date is set. All existing directors, including acting alternate directors, at this time will be given a period of time to apply for a DIN.

A person who is appointed a director within the first 12 months of the new regime’s operation will be given 28 days to apply for a DIN. After this transitional period ends, the standard rule applies, that is, a director must apply for a DIN prior to being appointed as a director. This transitional period is designed to provide time for new directors to become familiar with the new requirement and for any information or awareness campaigns in relation to it to take effect.

From 12 June 2022 (or an earlier date if one is set), SMSF establishment processes will need to be updated to ensure a person who is to be appointed as a director of the corporate trustee of the fund has a DIN. If the person does not already have a DIN, during the transitional period, an application for a DIN will need to be made within 28 days of their appointment as a director. After this transitional period ends, the application for a DIN must be made prior to their appointment as a director. The same rules will apply to a person who, from 12 June 2022 (or an earlier date if one is set), is appointed as a director or alternative director of a company that was in existence at 12 June 2022.

While the need to obtain a DIN introduces an additional step for SMSFs established with a corporate trustee, it should be remembered that a corporate trustee has many advantages over an individual trustee structure and should remain the preferred option for clients. The introduction of the new DIN regime will enhance the integrity of the SMSF sector by ensuring the identity of a person who is or will be the director of a company that acts as the corporate trustee of an SMSF, has been verified by a Commonwealth body. It should also help to ensure that those who act in the capacity of a director of a corporate trustee of an SMSF are not disqualified from doing so.

What has not changed

While the regulations to allow individuals aged 65 and 66 to make voluntary superannuation contributions without satisfying a work test have been passed, unfortunately amendments to the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to allow these individuals to bring forward their non-concessional contributions, did not pass the June sitting of Parliament.

This change is slated to start from 1 July 2020 but will now not be passed until after this date. While we can’t assume this amendment will be passed by the Parliament, we don’t consider this amendment to be politically controversial and therefore expect it will receive a smooth passage through the Parliament when it sits again later in the year. Once passed we expect this amendment will apply from 1 July 2020, as originally intended.

The delayed passage of the legislation does create some difficulties particularly for clients turning 65 in the 2019/20 financial year. If the law is amended as intended, clients turning 65 in the 2019/20 financial year who have the capacity to contribute $300,000, and are looking to maximise the amount they can contribute in the remaining few years before their retirement, may be better off not triggering the bring-forward period until the next financial year.

Staying across the measures which have now been enacted, those that have not and measures from other bills which impact on SMSFs, is never an easy task. In the current environment, where legislation has been rapidly changing, it has never been more important for advisers to stay up to date with the latest developments and strategies.

Source: SMSF Adviser & SMSF Association

SMSF liquidity lessons learned from the pandemic

Jul 21,2020 Comments Off

Sometimes it’s true that you don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.

There will be many lessons learned from this coronavirus pandemic and its impact on our lives and investment portfolios.

Few people will view risk – be it to their health or investments – through the same lens again for a long time, if ever.

Rewind to the early days of a bright new year in January.

The notion of a global pandemic that would kill almost 280,000 people and shut down the world economy would have belonged firmly in the realm of Hollywood disaster movies, rather than something you or your super fund had reason to worry about.

Liquidity is one thing that investors take for granted, particularly after an extended period of strong markets growth and, in Australia’s case, no economic recession for 29 years.

However, times of severe market disruption and turmoil effectively stress-test investment portfolios and superannuation, as well as their need for liquidity.

Large super funds have been part of the debate on liquidity, in part because of their need to rebalance portfolios affected by the share market’s drop, as well as a financial hardship support package initiated by the federal government that includes early release of retirement funds.

But it’s not just the fund titans that are rethinking their approach.

Self-Managed Super Funds (SMSF) are also finding they need to focus more on liquidity – particularly when members are approaching or are already in the drawdown, or pension phase.

Super is a long-term investment. So, liquidity can often be traded off when the funds will not be needed to be drawn down for 30 or 40 years.

For SMSF trustees in their 30s or 40s, liquidity is more an opportunity than a risk.

However, for those in retirement the situation shifts. The purpose of super becomes to provide income to fund or supplement your lifestyle once the regular pay-cheque has stopped.

How you manage your SMSF’s liquidity becomes critical at this time because it is your responsibility as a trustee to be able to pay expenses of the fund and benefits to members, as required.

The liquidity challenge for SMSFs invested predominantly in one illiquid asset, such as property, can be dramatic when things do not go to plan.

There are significant risks for those with concentrated direct property portfolios.

Last year, the Australian Tax Office quizzed more than 18,000 SMSF trustees about the diversification of fund portfolios. The letter was sent to trustees that had more than 90 per cent of their SMSF assets in a single asset class – typically property.

The ATO was not saying that you could not invest in just one asset class – it just wanted trustees to be sure they understood the risks – particularly if limited recourse borrowing was involved – on return, volatility and liquidity and a properly considered investment strategy.

At the time, there was discussion around whether it was a proper role for the ATO to ask such a question.

However, for trustees that heeded the warning about the risks of lack of diversification and the potential liquidity risk, it was prescient indeed.

Written by Robin Bowerman, head of corporate affairs at Vanguard Australia.

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

Contributions level out after 2017 reforms

Jul 14,2020 Comments Off

Contributions reverted to normal during the 2018 financial year, following an atypical jump in contributions in anticipation of the July 2017 superannuation reforms, the latest ATO SMSF figures have revealed.

According to the ATO statistical overview for the sector regarding the 2018 financial year, total contributions to SMSFs increased by 32 per cent to reach a high of $41.8 billion in 2016/17, with total SMSF benefit payments increasing by 31 per cent to $46 billion in the same year.

During the 2018 financial year, however, total contributions dropped to $17.4 billion and total benefit payments decreased to $37.7 billion.

In its analysis of the figures, the SMSF Association noted: “[The 2016/17 figures] were significant increases over the previous financial years, most of which can be attributed to a behavioral change resulting from the introduction of the superannuation reforms taking effect on 1 July 2017.

“With the release of the 2017/18 statistics, we now have a reversion to the norm.”

The association pointed out member contributions declined the most during the 2018 financial year, falling to $11.6 billion after peaking at $33.9 billion in 2016/17.

“This is likely due to the fact many SMSFs would have used their three-yearly contribution bring-forward rule in the previous financial year,” it noted.

As part of its analysis, the industry body also highlighted a sharp increase in lump sum withdrawals from SMSFs during 2017/18, which it attributed to the introduction of the transfer balance cap (TBC).

“As SMSFs moved money into accumulation phase and the TBC took effect, they took the opportunity to withdraw funds as a lump sum to keep a larger amount in retirement phase,” it said.

“If lump sums were taken from the retirement phase, this would create debits to their TBC.”

The ATO’s report also revealed the growth in the number of SMSFs reporting limited recourse borrowing arrangements had steadied and is increasing at a manageable rate.

In addition, the ATO found the level of SMSF wind-ups hit a record high during the 2018 financial year, while new establishments fell away.

Source: SMS Magazine

ATO outlines tax return changes for SMSFs this year

Jul 7,2020 Comments Off

The ATO has highlighted some of the new measures and changes to be aware of when completing tax returns for clients this year.

In an online update, the ATO provided an outline of some of the specific measures and support available for individuals impacted by COVID-19 as well as some changes specific to SMSF clients.

Updated SMSF instructions

The ATO said that the instructions for “Section A: SMSF auditor Part A” have been updated to help clarify the requirements for the fund.

“This question can now be answered as ‘No’ if the audit report was qualified only in relation to insufficient audit evidence under Auditing Standard ASA 510 Initial Audit Engagements – Opening Balance,” the ATO explained.

Question 6D also no longer includes Part A qualifications, the ATO said. This question relates only to rectifying to Part B of the audit report.

A new label, J7 Property count, has been added to section H: Assets and liabilities at 15b.

“If your SMSF holds investments in real property that was held in trust as a security under a limited recourse borrowing arrangement, this information must be reported at J7 Property count,” the ATO explained.

Label G1 Death benefit increase at Section C, Deductions and non-deductible expenses has now been removed.

“If a fund member died on or before 30 June 2017, the fund must have paid the benefit before 1 July 2019 to be eligible to claim a deduction. From 1 July 2019, the deduction is no longer available,” the Tax Office stated.

NALI changes

The ATO reminded SMSF professionals that from 1 July 2018, NALI was expanded to also include income derived by an SMSF from a scheme in which the parties were not dealing with each other at arm’s length.

“This is where the fund incurred expenses (including nil expenses) in deriving the income that are less than those which the SMSF would otherwise have been expected to incur if the parties were dealing on an arm’s-length basis,” it explained.

“The expenses may be of a revenue or capital nature in the same way that NALI may be statutory or ordinary income.”

From 1 July 2018, income derived by an SMSF in the capacity of beneficiary of a trust through holding a fixed entitlement to the income of the trust will be NALI where both:

The SMSF acquired the entitlement under a scheme or the income was derived under a scheme in which parties weren’t dealing with each other at arm’s length.
The SMSF incurred expenses in acquiring the entitlement or deriving the income that are less than, including nil expenses, what the SMSF would otherwise have been expected to incur if the parties were dealing on an arm’s length basis.

Source: SMSF Adviser

1800 951 855

[email protected]

Archive July 29, 2020

Lesser known change, and an unfortunate delay, leave their mark

SMSF liquidity lessons learned from the pandemic

Contributions level out after 2017 reforms

ATO outlines tax return changes for SMSFs this year