AIST backs SMSF SuperStream levy reform
The Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees (AIST) has again urged the Government to consider self-managed super funds (SMSFs) in the calculation of the SuperStream levy.
In a submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee (PJC) on corporations and financial services, AIST said it supported the reform of SMSF supervisory levy arrangements.
AIST said comments by the Treasurer and the Minister for Finance and Deregulation in the mid-year economic and fiscal outlook (MYEFO) regarding a shortfall of SMSF levy revenue exemplified why the industry body supported the move, although AIST conceded it was not the reason the levy had been brought forward.
AIST chief executive Tom Garcia said that although SMSFs were a key recipient of the SuperStream reforms, it was funds regulated by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) that would bear the cost.
He said the benefits to the SMSF sector were openly supported by the industry, and cited a statement from SMSF Professionals' Association of Australia (SPAA) technical director Peter Burgess in 2011.
"Ensuring all rollovers and employer contributions must be accompanied by mandatory sets of data will eliminate the need for SMSF administrators to chase up missing data and undertake time-consuming reconciliation processes," Burgess said.
AIST said the levy should be co-funded by the nearly 500,000 SMSFs that service 1 million members.
The costs of implementing the reforms were budgeted at an additional $467 million in the 2012 Federal Budget, with a slight downgrade in November, AIST said.
SMSFs should be levied $311 towards the Australian Taxation Office's SuperStream development costs in 2012-13 as a per capita proportionment of the total cost to the sector ($146 million), according to AIST.
* A prior version of this article incorrectly attributed the need for an SMSF levy of $311 per SMSF to SPAA technical director Peter Burgess.
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