SMSF firms told to revaluate pricing for new reporting
SMSF firms who charge a flat rate for producing annual reports will need to reassess their current pricing structure to ensure they recoup the extra costs associated with the TBAR reporting, according to a consultant.
SMSF Academy director Aaron Dunn said while the extra work required for the new TBAR reporting will be captured under a time-based billing pricing model, firms that use other pricing structures will need to revisit their pricing.
The TBAR reporting will initially be very time consuming for SMSFs firms, he said, so those firms charging a flat fee, especially for services in relation to pensions, may need increase their pricing to ensure this extra work is accounted for.
“Initially it’s going to be far more time consuming to do. In a year or two, once the infrastructure in respect to reporting is in place and the information can be pushed out from the SMSF software and sent to the ATO through an API, which we will end up getting to, it will end up having very little impact,” he said.
“At this time [however], there will be some specific costs there and you will need to work out how to recover that, and it's going to be subject to what you're pricing model looks like. I think if you've got a fixed price but you charge a specific price for pensions or the documentation around that then you would incorporate the extra time into that.”