“If ASIC are able to get hold of the information around pension commutations then they’ll be able to find who the [individual’s] tax agent is and determine whether they’ve provided advice to commute an amount from a pension,” Ms Schaefer warned. 

“You can’t get that information from the tax returns that are lodged, but I imagine by matching the TBAR reporting that is done with a specific tax return, you would be able to get that information.”

While a tax return shows the total value for a member, it doesn’t show the split between pension and accumulation, but the TBAR reporting does show the pension, she said.

“I suppose if [ASIC] looked at the tax return and if there was more than $1.6 million and it was in pension phase, that’d still give [them] a data set to go back and check if [advice had been given],” she noted.

Ms Schaefer said any action by ASIC in this area will depend on how quickly accounting firms decide to commence with events-based reporting.