ATO to focus on SMSFs

ATO will focus on the following SMSF compliance issues:

• all SMSFs must ensure that assets in their fund are appropriately valued with relevant valuations supported by objective evidence and data
• in the coming months, SMSFs should establish whether their members are affected by the new transfer balance cap and they must elect to do so in the CGT schedule accompanying the fund’s 2017 SMSF annual return. The due date of that return is now 30 June 2018
• SMSFs with members who chose the practical compliance approach to commutations before 1 July 2017 by requesting that any amount in excess of the $1.6 million transfer balance cap be commuted before 1 July must ensure relevant asset valuations are undertaken and the precise amounts of those commutations are calculated and recorded in the fund’s 2017 financial statements before the due date of their SMSF annual return
• for individuals who may have inadvertently exceeded the transfer balance cap, the fund should undertake up-to-date asset valuations to determine the amount of any excess and minimise the excess transfer balance tax liability that will otherwise accrue.