The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has revealed the degree to which its compliance activity has strengthened as the number of self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) has multiplied.
In an address to a SMSF Conference in Sydney this week, Deputy Commissioner of Taxation Neil Olesen said that whereas in 2005-06 the ATO had made 12 funds non-complying, this figure had risen to 185 in the last financial year.
As well, he said that before 2007-08 the ATO had not referred any approved auditors to their professional bodies for disciplinary action, but last financial year it referred 30 auditors and 11 had been disqualified.
Where SMSF trustees were concerned, Olesen said that in 2005-06 the ATO had disqualified 27 trustees, and last financial year this figure had risen to 94.
However, he said the figures were not indicative of worsening compliance, but rather a maturing of administration.
“The figures need to be seen in the context of a system that has grown from 190,000 funds in 1999 to nearly 430,000 funds today,” Olesen said.
