SMSF Association Media Release
Giving registered financial advisers access to specific ATO-held information when they provide financial and tax advice to their clients is an important reform that will improve the quality of financial advice.
Addressing the Treasury Review of tax regulator secrecy exceptions, SMSF Association CEO Peter Burgess says the need to include advisers in this process is “critically important” – and hopefully this opens a pathway for advisers to have access to ATO client information.
In response to the Treasury review, the Association has submitted a detailed submission advocating for advisers and SMSF administrators to have greater access to ATO information.
Burgess says the Association’s submission expresses a firmly held view that there is a strong case for change to give advisers this access.
“Financial advice must consider the totality of a client’s circumstances, and this requires access to personal client data and information, including key ATO-held information.
“Superannuation rules are complex and getting it wrong can be costly so it is vitally important advisers have access to the information they need to provide accurate and timely advice to clients.”
Burgess says the submission also addresses SMSF administrators – another important group that plays a critical role in helping clients, among other things, to avoid inadvertent and costly superannuation cap breaches.
“SMSF administrators who are registered tax agents offer specialist SMSF accounting and tax services to SMSF trustees, and as registered tax agents they have access to the ATO online services for the SMSFs they administer.
“However, crucial information relating to a fund member is not accessible, being limited to the individual member’s tax agent.”
He says that access to ATO-held data by SMSF administrators is important for many reasons. It would enable the early detection of reporting errors and would greatly assist SMSF administrators to provide SMSF members with more accurate and complete information about their superannuation tax affairs.