ASIC reports that a man from South Melbourne has pleaded guilty in the Melbourne Magistrates Court and been fined $6,000 for operating a financial services business without an Australian financial services (AFS) licence. ASIC’s investigation arose from ATO intelligence that raised concerns about the promoter’s conduct. The offence related to a scheme the man promoted and operated to facilitate illegal early release of his clients’ superannuation benefits through the creation of self managed superannuation funds (SMSFs).

Between 2010 and 2012, the man placed newspaper advertisements in Victoria and South Australia offering loans dependent upon future superannuation entitlements. A round-robin scheme was operated whereby the promoter’s clients transferred their superannuation funds into newly created SMSFs. The SMSFs lent funds to a company the promoter operated, and then an amount, less a fee, was loaned by either the company or personally back to the trustees of the SMSF in their personal capacity. The promoter has never been granted an AFS licence or a credit licence and has never been an authorised representative of a licensee. ASIC said the promoter exploited his clients’ trust through an illegal scheme that exposed them to potential legal and financial risk.

ASIC urges consumers to deal only with licensed representatives of the financial services and credit industries.

On 2 May 2017, the Senate Economics References Committee released its report into Superannuation Guarantee (SG) non-payment, calling for the ATO to take a more proactive stance in identifying and addressing SG non-compliance.
As part of its inquiry, the committee heard that employers failed to pay $5.6 billion in SG contributions in 2013–2014, affecting 2.76 million employees who lost over $2,000 on average in a single year.

Other key recommendations include:
• requiring monthly contributions (instead of quarterly);
• removing the current $450 monthly threshold for SG eligibility;
• ensuring salary sacrificed contributions cannot count towards the employer’s compulsory SG obligation, and do not reduce the earnings base upon which SG is calculated;
• strengthening the ATO’s ability to recover SG liabilities through the director penalty notice (DPN) framework to stop directors undertaking fraudulent phoenix activity; and
• amending the Fair Work Regulations 2009 to require payslips to display further details about super contributions.

Where a taxpayer has amounts remaining in superannuation when they die, their death creates a compulsory cashing requirement for the superannuation provider. This means the superannuation provider must cash the superannuation interests to the deceased person’s beneficiaries as soon as possible. The ATO has released a Draft Law Companion Guideline to explain the treatment of superannuation death benefit income streams under the $1.6 million pension transfer balance cap that will apply from 1 July 2017.

The Draft Guideline provides that where a deceased member’s superannuation interest is cashed to a dependant beneficiary in the form of a death benefit income stream, a credit will arise in the dependant beneficiary’s transfer balance account. The amount and timing of the transfer balance credit will depend on whether the recipient is a reversionary or non-reversionary beneficiary.

TIP: To reduce an excess transfer balance, you may be able to fully or partially convert a death benefit or super income stream into a super lump sum. Contact us if you would like to know more.