Sinodinos ‘happy to have a look’ at limited licensing for SPAA members

The Assistant Treasurer, Senator Arthur Sinodinos, has committed to examining whether the limited licensing regime can be extended to members of the SMSF Professionals’ Association of Australia (SPAA).

The chief executive officer of SPAA, Andrea Slattery said SPAA has “specialist members who are seen and are known to have extended themselves beyond that which is expected by the government, and the minimum standard”.

“The opportunity for SPAA members to be involved in the limited licensing exemptions – it only applies to JAB [Joint Accounting Bodies] members because they were the only ones who had the exemption at the time, in 2003 – perhaps we could pop that onto your agenda?”

Happy to look

Sinodinos said he is “happy to have a look at that, absolutely”. Sinodinos said he will also examine the
treatment of self-managed super funds held by expatriates. Currently Australians working overseas cannot effectively continue to contribute to their SMSF because, among other issues, they fail the “active member” test.

A too-common course of action for someone receiving an overseas posting is to wind-up their SMSF.

“I am happy to look at it,” Sinodinos said. “But you must always remember that one of the reasons we have some of those rules around needing funds located and administered in Australia…is that we are providing certain concessions in Australia.

“You do not want a situation where we’re creating potential – for want of better words – an overseas wealth accumulation vehicle.

“But I am happy to talk to you further about anomalies and inconsistencies in that regard.”

No SMSF review

Sinodinos confirmed that the government was not planning an SMSF-specific review of any kind, including into limited recourse borrowing arrangements. And he said the government was not campaigning against industry funds.

“Industry funds…are a respected and legitimate part of the superannuation landscape,” he said.

“No one is out to do them in, or anything else. The dilemma I face as the minister in this space is you have all these different business models…and having one-size-fits-all regulation is difficult in this area.”