ASF Articles
The Impact of Part A Qualifications
Before it became an ATO reporting requirement in the 2019 annual return, Part A qualifications were primarily ignored within the SMSF industry. Discussions centred mostly around compliance contraventions and whether an Auditor Contravention Report (ACR) was to be...
The New Era of SMSF Penalties
We’ve entered a new era of SMSF administrative penalties where trustees are facing the consequences of any illegal activity in their funds. The anecdotal evidence suggests that SMSF penalties are being applied hard and fast by the ATO, and not just for a single...
How to Pass the Sole Purpose Test
Making sure an SMSF passes the sole purpose test (“SPT”) is one of the cornerstones of operating a compliant SMSF. One of the most important things to understand is that it’s not the type of investment dictating whether the SPT is met, but rather the purpose for which...
New Rules Turn NALI Into Gnarly
The government has recently passed legislation to reduce the ambiguity surrounding the effect of non-arms length expenditure (NALE) on SMSFs. Where a fund incurs less (or nil) expenditure by...
Does SMSF Litigation Risk Die with Trustees?
How many times have we heard that it’s only an SMSF audit; there’s not much in the fund, or it’s not high-risk? For some reason, the perception still exists that an SMSF is more straightforward to audit than any other entity. Interestingly, the auditing standards that...
Why Didn’t My SMSF Auditor Check That?
SMSF auditors are the last link in a long superannuation chain before the annual return gets lodged. And when things go wrong, SMSF auditors can often be an easy target to blame. But not everything is as simple as it seems because it’s the auditing standards and SIS...
Accepting EOFY Contributions After June 30
Typically, SMSF contributions aren’t counted until the payment is received in the fund's bank account. The problems start, however, when June 30 falls on a weekend or Monday as this provides minimal scope for contributions to be accepted at the last minute. The secret...
3 Simple Rules for Related Parties
Trying to identify related party transactions in an SMSF can seem like pulling apart a set of Russian dolls: the first entity links to another entity, which, in turn, has another entity inside of it, and so on. The question is how far do you continue searching to...
The Hidden Path to Independence
ASIC recently announced that seven (7) SMSF auditors with independence issues were either deregistered or had a condition placed on their registration. It's beyond belief that SMSF auditors continue to be pinged by the Regulator for auditing their own, or a related...
What’s the Value of an Unlisted Asset?
Two recent cases[1] involving SMSF auditors have focused industry attention on the obligation of SMSF auditors to verify assets valued at market value. The headaches start, however, when a fund invests in unlisted assets, such as unlisted companies and trusts. The...
ASF Audits Acquires Nest Super
We are proud to announce that ASF Audits has acquired Melbourne-based specialist SMSF auditing firm, Nest Super as we expand our business in Australia. Nest Super director Casey McGrath has joined the ASF Audits board. ASF Audits managing director Richard Smith said...
Potential Problems with Pension Payments
There’s no doubt the new rules and regulations associated with Super Reform are confusing. We are now seeing new issues starting to emerge that will have adverse tax consequences for unsuspecting SMSFs. This is a timely reminder to help SMSF advisers avoid potential...