ASFA unhappy with AUSTRAC funding scheme

22 May 2013
| By Mike |
image
image
expand image

Superannuation funds and other players within the financial services industry should not have to pay for the regulatory activities of the Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC), according to the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA).  

In a submission to the government body, ASFA has restated its opposition to the Government imposing a levy on super funds to cover AUSTRAC.  

ASFA has sought to gain clarity around the degree to which superannuation funds will be impacted by a levy to fund AUSTRAC.  

It said it had sought clarity in previous submissions for the basis on which the so-called “large entity” component of the levy would be applied to superannuation funds.  

Clarity was required around whether a fund’s liability for the large entity component was based on EBITDA (earnings before income tax expense, net financing costs, depreciation and amortisation) of the trustee, not the trust (ie, the superannuation fund), according to ASFA.  

ASFA said that in previous submissions to AUSTRAC it had “expressed our strong opposition to the Government’s policy to recover AUSTRAC’s regulatory costs from reporting entities”.  

“We do not intend to restate the reasons behind ASFA’s position again in this submission. However we feel it is appropriate to draw your attention to these prior submissions which contain, in detail, the reasons behind our objections to the AUSTRAC levy,” it said.  

ASFA had previously stated it did not believe the industry should wear the cost of funding AUSTRAC because it is Government, not the industry, which benefits from the resultant activities.

Read more about:

AUTHOR

Recommended for you

sub-bgsidebar subscription

Never miss the latest developments in Super Review! Anytime, Anywhere!

Grant Banner

From my perspective, 40- 50% of people are likely going to be deeply unhappy about how long they actually live. ...

1 year ago
Kevin Gorman

Super director remuneration ...

1 year ago
Anthony Asher

No doubt true, but most of it is still because over 45’s have been upgrading their houses with 30 year mortgages. Money ...

1 year ago

The future of superannuation policy remains uncertain, with further reforms potentially on the horizon as the Albanese government seeks to curb the use of superannuation ...

13 hours ago

Super funds had a “tremendous month” in November, according to new data....

4 days 12 hours ago

Australia faces a decade of deficits, with the sum of deficits over the next four years expected to overshoot forecasts by $21.8 billion....

4 days 17 hours ago