The Government should embrace the Productivity Commission’s (PC’s) recommendation for making the current temporary tax rollover relief for fund mergers and transfer events permanent, according to major consultancy, KPMG.
In an analysis released this week, KPMG Tax Director, Ross Stephens said that given the ongoing regulatory and political exhortation to increase the numbers of mergers in the superannuation sector aimed at removing under-performing funds “anything else would have been a disappointment”.
“… we must hope the PC’s clear recommendation for legislation in this area will be taken on by the government, as it has been curious to see tax policy contradicting the government’s overall stance - as well as being inconsistent with the permanent relief provided for a number of restructures for other types of businesses,” he said.
Stephens said the relief enabled the closing fund in a merger to transfer its unrealised tax positions to the ongoing fund along with the relevant assets.
“Without the relief, these unrealised tax positions are crystallised at the date of merger. With a number of funds having exhausted capital losses and being in an unrealised net capital gains position, this gives rise to a cash cost in the absence of rollover relief, and represents a potential impediment to a successful merger,” he said.
The super fund announced that Gregory has been appointed to its executive leadership team, taking on the fresh role of chief advice officer.
The deputy governor has warned that, as super funds’ overseas assets grow and liquidity risks rise, they will need to expand their FX hedge books to manage currency exposure effectively.
Super funds have built on early financial year momentum, as growth funds deliver strong results driven by equities and resilient bonds.
The super fund has announced that Mark Rider will step down from his position of chief investment officer (CIO) after deciding to “semi-retire” from full-time work.