The highlight for me was the fight against the Div 296 tax led by the SMSF Association. The industry showed that we can defeat government brutalism when the sector presents a united front. The other biggest positive was the announcement on the legacy pension amnesty. That was a surprising positive, as this good policy change was originally linked to the success of the Div 296 tax.

Naz Randeria, managing director, Reliance Auditing Services

Legacy pension changes, an increase in the super guarantee rate, and contribution caps being indexed upwards.

David Busoli, principal, SMSF Alliance

The biggest positive in 2024 for me was the failure of the Div 296 tax to become law. It may yet happen, but it was particularly pleasing to see that the government was prevented from arrogantly pushing through such an iniquitous and poorly considered piece of legislation following the concerted efforts of the sector’s member-based organisations. The other was the finalising of the specific expense NALI item which has consumed far too many resources over the years.

Matthew Burgess, director, View Legal

The SMSF sector surpassing $1 trillion in assets under management is extraordinary – what a journey from a standing start only a generation or so ago. The role that AI is already – and can continue to play – is exciting (or scary, depending on your view).

The unified voice of SMSF professionals with which the Div 296 changes were addressed was outstanding. While painful for those involved, the increased clarity around various aspects of the interplay between SMSFs and wider estate planning has been very positive

Daniel Butler, director, DBA Lawyers

The SMSF industry made a persistent campaign against Div 296 which finally won out. This shows that to be successful, a persistent and strategic approach is needed. Persistence leads to success!

Aaron Dunn, CEO, Smarter SMSF

I think the Div 296 tax result as to where we are is a significant win for the sector. I've really highlighted what those wins were and the challenges that we had. Ultimately we got enough ears listening to those concerns to make the change.

I think that's certainly been a win where fundamentally we were mid-year thinking that it may not have been the case. I think the other win is around things like the legacy pension conversions. There was concern that they were going to be welded together with the Div 296 tax measures. If one didn't come in, then the other wasn't, so we did get that surprise Christmas present that enabled us to now take the relevant steps with clients that want to exit these old pensions and also look to credit reserves out as well.

From another positive point of view, we do have a number of older rulings being updated to reflect the ATO's current views, many of these went back to pre-2017 reforms. So therefore the context in which we're trying to understand those certainly needs the update and refreshing that the ATO has now provided.

The other two to me, I think are, as a sector, we've continued to grow. The fact that we now have a trillion dollars of assets sitting within the SMSF industry, representing about a quarter of the sector, continues to show that SMSF goes from strength to strength, and we're seeing that through naturally, the increase in the fund establishment numbers that are happening every quarter. Therefore we're seeing younger entrants, and more engaged people with their superannuation, which ultimately is and can be seen as a good thing.

Shelley Banton, head of technical, ASF Audits

We continue to see the rise and rise of SMSFs, with Australians wanting to take ownership of their future retirement benefits. The most recent stats in September saw total SMSF assets punching through the $1 trillion barrier for the first time. It presents opportunities for all SMSF professionals to help clients understand the SMSF landscape and make the most of the regulatory changes to maximise their retirement outcomes.