ATO speech: SMSF emerging issues

Speaking at a recent conference, Acting Deputy Commissioner Superannuation, Alison Lendon, said the self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) sector was in good shape, but noted there was a small minority of funds and professionals that do the wrong thing. Some emerging areas of concern included: Illegal early release; fraud; not correctly reporting non-arm’s length income; not setting up correctly limited recourse borrowing arrangements; and late SMSF annual return lodgments.

The ATO issued letters to those SMSFs and 13 per cent have lodged their 2012 or 2013 returns. Ms Lendon also noted that independence risks of SMSF auditors may be a focus area for ATO compliance activities. She also announced that the ATO will expand its SMSF Professional to Professional email support service.