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New penalty power could expose advisers
The ATO’s new SMSF trustee penalty regime could leave some SMSF practitioners “exposed”, according to The SMSF Academy’s Aaron Dunn.
Late last year, the Coalition announced it will proceed with proposed measures to give the ATO more flexibility and new penalty powers when dealing with non-compliance among SMSFs.
The proposed measures were originally a Cooper Review recommendation and have received widespread support from the SMSF sector, including from AMP SMSF.
However, Mr Dunn said practitioners may be faced with “unhappy” trustees looking to recover costs incurred under the new regime as a result of potentially insufficient advice.
“These new directive, education and administrative powers could potentially leave some professionals exposed, with certain individual trustees looking to point the finger at their advisers who haven’t appropriately discussed their trustee options in establishing and operating their fund,” Mr Dunn said.
The Bill is expected to progress quickly through parliament, meaning the new penalty regime will come into effect on July 1 this year.
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