SMSF Association Submission – Retirement Income Covenant

SMSF Association Submission

The SMSF Association welcomes the opportunity to provide this submission in response to the
Government’s Retirement Income Covenant Exposure Draft.

We support the decision to not apply the covenant to trustees of self managed superannuation
funds (“SMSF”) as noted at 1.3 of the Exposure Draft Explanatory Materials. Our reasons for this
position were discussed in some detail in our submission dated 6 August 2021 in response to the
Retirement Income Covenant Position Paper.

The focus of our submission highlights key issues detailed in our previous submission dated 6 August 2021, outlined below:

  • SMSF members and trustees are one and the same. 
  • The measure adds administration costs and complexity to highly engaged SMSF trustees.
  • Several components of the retirement income covenant are addressed within the existing
    investment strategy covenant
  • The covenant will likely broaden the scope of the audit undertaken by the ASIC approved SMSF auditor.

Retirement Income Covenant

SMSF Association Submission