Has double-counting led to transfer balance cap blow-outs?
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is investigating the possible double-counting of superannuation contributions which have wrongly resulted in people being told they have exceed their transfer balance caps, according to SMSF specialist business, SuperConcepts.
SuperConcepts SMSF Technical Specialist, Anthony Cullen said his firm had raised the issue with the ATO which had said it was investigating the issue and aiming to providing some clarity about what might have happened.
He said that, on that basis, moves by some SMSFs to cancel existing Transfer Balance Account reporting may prove to be premature.
Cullen said SuperConcepts had seen a lot of concern from its customers and some confused analysis in the market about the issue but he did not believe Transfer Balance Account reports would need to be redone.
“It’s true the legislation is very difficult to understand in its current wording and we’ve been in constant communication with the ATO who are doing everything possible to provide clarity around this topic,” he said. “We currently have clients that are trying to ascertain how they received an excess non concessional contribution notice for the 2018 financial year, on the back of a purported TSB above $1.6 million.
“Their TSB should not be above this level and appears to have been derived from the double counting of balances that existed on 30 June 2017 and subsequently used to commence a pension on 1 July 2017,” Cullen said.
“We’ve spoken to the ATO and they acknowledge they’re investigating with a view to providing more detailed clarity in the near future.”
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