Treasury has released its exposure draft to amend the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulations 1994 (SISR) to extend the operation of SuperStream to capture SMSFs, with the consultation period now open.
The draft regulations also make some minor changes to simplify and update SISR.
Stakeholder submissions and comments on the amendments were accepted until 3 August.
Currently, SISR generally requires all superannuation funds, other than SMSFs, to provide data to regulators and transfer payments between funds using the secure electronic payment and data verification system, known as SuperStream.
“Extending the class of prescribed eligible super entities ensures that SMSFs are subject to requirements in section 34z of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act and the regulations in part 3b of SISR,” the exposure draft said.
Under the amendments, SMSFs enter the SuperStream system and may be required to provide the commissioner of taxation with a unique super identifier, likely to be their Australian business number, bank details that can receive electronic payments and an internet protocol address or other digital address approved by the commissioner that can facilitate SuperStream communication.
Not all SMSFs currently have a unique super identifier or internet protocol address.
“In practice, an SMSF will only be required to obtain an identifier or address and provide it to the commissioner if it receives a contribution or a rollover or transfer of a member’s withdrawal benefit,” the draft regulations said.
“If an SMSF never receives a contribution, rollover or transfer of a member’s withdrawal benefit, it is not required to provide the listed information to the commissioner and consequently is not required to obtain a unique super identifier.”
The amendments to the regulations propose SMSFs will not have to provide fund information to the commissioner before 30 November 2019.
In addition, the draft regulations are proposed to apply to rollovers and transfers, to and from an SMSF, requested on or after 30 November 2019.
SMSFs will not be required to do anything in relation to SuperStream before that date.
The exposure draft also contains transitional rules that ensure the regulations apply appropriately for rollovers, contributions and transfers that happen on 30 November 2019 or within the 10 business days that follow.
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