ATO passes super tax issue to Treasury

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has gone as far as it can go in articulating trustees' concerns around the excess contributions tax and the issue now lies with Treasury, said Tax Commissioner Michael D'Ascenzo.

Speaking at the Self-Managed Super Fund Professionals' Association of Australia (SPAA) conference in Brisbane, D'Ascenzo reiterated that the self-managed super fund (SMSF) sector was maturing and that auditors were growing in terms of competence and experience.

He said serious contraventions comprised 2 per cent of funds and the competence and independence of auditors would remain a priority from the ATO's standpoint.

Of the funds that were assessed for excess contributions, 8 per cent of trustees lodged applications for the commissioner to exercise discretion, D'Ascenzo said.

"We support the concerns raised by people affected by excess contributions tax when it is unintentionally done," he said. However, he warned that the gap for the ATO showing discretion was narrow.

In a lot of instances trustees admitted that they "just got it wrong", he said.

D'Ascenzo pointed out that the highly publicised incidents of people incurring excess contributions tax of 93 per cent were in unusual circumstances where they had made both concessional and non-concessional excess contributions. However, the ATO had brought the concerns of those affected to the attention of Government and the Treasury. He said it was now a matter for Treasury and there was nothing else the ATO could do.