The ATO has released a position paper requesting industry feedback on two possible time frame scenarios for SMSFs for events-based reporting under its transfer balance account report (TBAR) regime.
“We are asking for feedback on two alternative options around time frames of reporting events occurring in relation to a member’s transfer balance account,” ATO SMSF segment assistant commissioner Kasey Macfarlane told selfmanagedsuper Trustee News.
“The first one being 10 business days after the end of the month in which the relevant event occurs, apart from the two key exceptions: the commencement of an income stream or a pension by a member and the limited recourse borrowing arrangement repayments that give rise to a transfer balance credit, where a concession will be given to SMSFs to report these events 28 days after the end of the quarter in which they occurred.
“The other alternative is that from 1 July 2018, SMSFs would report all events 28 days after the end of the quarter with a view over a period of time, say two years until the end of June 2020, SMSFs would move to reporting all events on a monthly basis.
“The advantage of that is it allows consistent reporting time frames for all events, and it provides a transition period where SMSFs are only required to report quarterly and the idea is to move monthly.”
The industry has until 15 September to provide feedback to the regulator.
Macfarlane said post-1 July, the ATO has had ongoing discussions with industry about its original proposal for the TBAR regime to operate under the model of 10 business days after the end of the month.
“One of the main questions that has been asked is if it’s possible for all events to be reported quarterly, rather than some being monthly and some quarterly, so we had been giving further consideration to that,” she said.
The TBAR regime requires events-based reporting by SMSFs from 1 July 2018, however, SMSFs are able to commence reporting to the ATO in October 2017.
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