IPA calls out proposed SMSF registration fees

21 December 2017
| By Hope William-Smith |
image
image
expand image

Fee increases for new auditors of self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) under the proposed fees-for-service model should be taking money collected by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) at supervisory level into account to stop the market domination by major players, according to the Institute of Public Accountants (IPA).

IPA chief executive, Andrew Conway called the one-off fee increase from $107 to $2,439 “exorbitant” and said the proposed new $899 deregistration fees was equally unfathomable.

Commenting on the $259 already collected by the ATO from every SMSF to finance the ATO’s SMSF-monitoring role on behalf of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Conway said the levy increase from $45 in 2008 to around $142.5 million had not taken into account every level at which SMFs are charged.

“The Government gave the ATO $10.6 million over five years to police registered auditors…some of the funding for the SMSF auditor registration process was also sourced by ASIC charging auditors to sit [a] SMSF auditor competency exam,” he said.

“We have a major concern over the impact these fees will have on competition, especially when there has already been a decline in the number of SMSF auditors in the market which is being dominated by the major players.”

Conway said IPA would call on the government to reconsider the proposed fee increase which could deter new market entrants.

“SMSF members…are well regulated in our co-regulatory system, which requires them to maintain their professional and ethical standards,” he said.

“While we understand the objectives of the new funding model and the role of ASIC, we now have a major concern.”

 

Read more about:

AUTHOR

 

Recommended for you

 

MARKET INSIGHTS

sub-bg sidebar subscription

Never miss the latest news and developments in wealth management industry

Squeaky'21

My view is that after 2026 there will be quite a bit less than 10,000 'advisers' (investment advisers) and less than 100...

6 days 5 hours ago
Jason Warlond

Dugald makes a great point that not everyone's definition of green is the same and gives a good example. Funds have bee...

6 days 6 hours ago
Jasmin Jakupovic

How did they get the AFSL in the first place? Given the green light by ASIC. This is terrible example of ASIC's incompet...

1 week ago

AustralianSuper and Australian Retirement Trust have posted the financial results for the 2022–23 financial year for their combined 5.3 million members....

9 months 1 week ago

A $34 billion fund has come out on top with a 13.3 per cent return in the last 12 months, beating out mega funds like Australian Retirement Trust and Aware Super. ...

9 months ago

The verdict in the class action case against AMP Financial Planning has been delivered in the Federal Court by Justice Moshinsky....

9 months 1 week ago

TOP PERFORMING FUNDS

ACS FIXED INT - AUSTRALIA/GLOBAL BOND