Thursday 29 April 2010

Cooper Review into Self Managed Superannuation

Last week’s announcement of the third round of preliminary recommendations of the Cooper Review into Self Managed Superannuation in Australia contains relevant considerations for all Sage Advisers’ clients.

Chief among the recommendations are:

  • prohibiting investment in collectables and personal-use assets (such as artworks, stamp collections, wine collections, exotic cars, racehorses and yachts); 
  • making the ATO's penalty regime more flexible to enable more effective and equitable regulation; and 
  • reducing the potential to benefit illegally from related party transactions by prohibiting the acquisition of in-house assets and imposing restrictions on the way in which an SMSF can transact with related parties.
It is also proposed that there be an online SMSF resource centre to help SMSF trustees build skills and make better decisions. We will keep you up to date with any legislative changes which result.