The ATO has announced that a new self-managed super fund (SMSF) member verification system is now available to provide improved transparency for super rollovers from APRA-regulated super funds into SMSFs.

APRA-regulated super funds and their administrators will have the ability to confirm that an individual who requests a rollover is a member of the SMSF. For that reason, anyone operating an SMSF will need to ensure that their membership details are correctly recorded with the ATO and they notify of any changes to membership of the SMSF within 28 days of the change.

The new system is designed to ensure that rollovers are completed efficiently by reducing the need to request additional documentation, to enable APRA-regulated funds to be more confident that the rollovers to SMSF funds is genuine and reduce the risk of fraud and other illegal activities. This does of course place a higher expectation of appropriate records keeping by SMSF Trustees or Administrators.  The ATO continues to raise the bar on the Trustee administrative responsibilities and the Trustee should seriously consider if they are up to the task or whether the function can be outsourced.

For more information about SMSF requirements or outsourcing, contact us on (02) 9957 4033.