Bill Shorten dragging feet on accountants' exemption
The Federal Opposition has called on the Minister for Financial Services, Bill Shorten, to resolve the accountants' exemption as a matter of urgency.
The Opposition spokesman on financial services, Senator Mathias Cormann, said it was time for the Minister to finally resolve what had amounted to two years of uncertainty.
He said Labor had been threatening to make changes to the accountants'; exemption since 2010 but had failed to act, thereby creating significant uncertainty for accountants and millions of clients throughout Australia.
However Cormann said that in seeking to resolve the issue, the Minister needed to ensure the Government did not end up imposing unnecessary additional red tape for small business professional accountants.
He said the Government had to ensure that any changes to the exemption did not restrict or limit the availability and accessibility of professional, independent advice for small business clients considering establishing or closing a self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF), and did not impact the professional independence of accountants.
Cormann said any changes also needed to enable accountants to provide advice on a broad range of financial issues to their clients, including advice about SMSF structures.
The Opposition spokesman claimed the Minister had foreshadowed an announcement on the accountants' exemption as recently as February but had still not acted.
"If Bill Shorten is too busy to deal with this matter to end the uncertainty for accountants and their clients, maybe he should let someone else do the job," Cormann said.
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