Time is fast running out for accountants who need a limited Australian Financial Services (AFS) licence to continue advising self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) trustees after 30 June 2016.

The SMSF Association’s Head of Education Liz Ward says ASIC has repeatedly warned that 31 March is the effective cut-off date for those accountants who want either a limited or full licence.

“After this date the regulator is giving no guarantees that there will be sufficient time for accountants to meet the necessary requirements involved in getting an AFS licence.”

Ward says recent figures from ASIC show that it has only received 226 applications for limited licences and of this number only 78 licences have been issued. This is despite the fact the process has been open for more than two and half years.

“Across the industry there is concern and, to some degree, bewilderment about what the 1000s of accountants who now advise SMSFs are going to do after 30 June.

“The reality is that if they are not operating under an AFS licence (full or limited), or have not established a referral arrangement or joint venture with a party that has an appropriate AFSL, they effectively will only be able to provide tax advice to their SMSF clients.”

Ward says accountants who expect the deadline to be extended will be sorely disappointed. “If you haven’t got your plans well underway by now, you have a problem.

“In our discussions with ASIC, the regulator has made it quite clear that there is no intention to extend the deadline. The official view is accountants have been given more than enough time to get a licence.

“The other point worth making is that accountants doing any work that requires a full or limited licence will have to stop on 30 June, even if they have an application being processed. After 30 June any accountant who provides unlicensed advice risks regulatory action, and providing unlicensed financial services is an offence under the Corporations Act,” she says.

Source: SMSF Association

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