SMSFs should stay in ATO stable: SPAA

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is the right regulatory body to oversee the self-managed super fund sector, according to the SMSF Professionals’ Association of Australia (SPAA).

SPAA CEO Andrea Slattery says all the evidence suggests that the ATO does an “excellent job” regulating the sector and slammed calls for SMSFs to come under the umbrella of the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) as both “mischievous and illogical”.

“The claim is that SMSF sector is under-regulated; nothing could be further from the truth,” she said.

The ATO regulates the taxation of SMSFs and APRA-regulated funds, and has regulated the administration and operation of SMSFs since 1999.

Under the Labor Government, the ATO was handed prudential powers by APRA to regulate the auditors, actuaries and trustees of SMSFs.

The ATO’s powers also include regulating fraud and theft, which, as, it doesn’t have regulatory powers over.

“The fact remains that APRA does not have the resources to oversee nearly 500,000 SMSFs, with its audit program simply not structured to handle small funds,” said Slattery.

“By contrast, the ATO has been able to build the resources and the expertise which is why SMSFs were transferred from APRA to the ATO in 1999.”

In Slattery’s experience, the ATO’s preparedness to engage and consult with the SMSF sector has been excellent and “there has never been any evidence to show that the ATO was failing in its role, so we at SPAA cannot understand why there is continuing sniping at the ATO”.

“There are never any facts or figures to demonstrate the ATO is falling down on the job,” she added.

“Just the claim that SMSFs are ‘lightly regulated’ and that APRA would be a more appropriate regulator.

“The criticism ignores the fact that each fund has to be independently audited each year which means the performance of the trustees is constantly being reviewed and scrutinised.

“It really shows that the criticism is generally due to a lack of knowledge and understanding of the SMSF sector and the actual regulatory role that the ATO has.”