A parliamentary committee has been given some insight into the variability of how both the Australian Taxation Office and superannuation funds are handling the Government’s hardship early release superannuation scheme.
Answering questions from the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics, major industry fund LUCRF has pointed out that, on occasion, the ATO has been responsible for reversing early release arrangements.
The fund pointed to the fact that there were at least nine occasions on which the ATO had approved early release applications only to later revoke them.
Pointing out that LUCRF was not involved in the process of approving early release application requests, the fund said that as at 28 April 2020, LUCRF had been advised by the ATO that it had revoked nine applications that they had previously approved.
LUCRF pointed out that, as well, 44 applications were unable to be processed by the ATO due to the member either closing their account prior to receipt of the ATO request or the member requesting the cancellation of the ATO application.
Senator Andrew Bragg has pressed funds that attended the super summit in the US, demanding answers on costs, compliance with their best financial interests duty, and the decision-making process behind their participation.
A top Treasury official has shed light on the confidential document that circulated among funds this month, telling Senate estimates Treasury is “testing a hypothesis”.
During Senate estimates, it was insinuated that if AustralianSuper had been a retail fund, it would have faced a much larger fine.
Just months after exceeding $4 trillion in assets, Australia’s super industry continues to grow at pace.