{"id":6118,"date":"2008-10-10T13:53:51","date_gmt":"2008-10-10T18:53:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/2008\/10\/10\/noah-group-trustees-of-smsfs-beware-of-ato-focus\/"},"modified":"2008-10-10T13:53:51","modified_gmt":"2008-10-10T18:53:51","slug":"noah-group-trustees-of-smsfs-beware-of-ato-focus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/?p=6118","title":{"rendered":"Noah Group – Trustees of SMSFs beware of ATO focus"},"content":{"rendered":"
by Scott P. Paterson<\/div>\n

CEO of the Noah Group, Brett Marks, believes the Australian Tax Office is stepping up its focus on self-managed super funds and has warned trustees of these funds to beware.<\/p>\n

Thankfully though, the Noah Group’s licensed professionals strictly adhere to the new SMSF industry rules and can help clients wanting to set up their own SMSF and leverage into property. For clients who aspire to enter the property market and who have approximately $120,000 in super, the Noah Group can assist you through your own property trust. Revisions to the SIS Act in September 2007 have made this possible in Australia and allow those in under-achieving super funds to gain full control over their investments potentially resulting in greater returns.<\/p>\n

The Noah Group reports that as of the 1st of July, 2008, the tax office now requires fund auditors to report any of a long list of legal contraventions by trustees of funds. <\/p>\n

Breaching the sole purpose test (that requires funds to be maintained for the core purpose of providing retirement and death benefits for members) and providing financial assistance to members or their relatives are just some of the many contraventions.<\/p>\n

Other reportable contraventions to the tax office by newly formed funds include failing to purchase assets on an arm’s length basis, borrowing from a SMSF (certain exceptions exist for short-term loans) and exceeding the in-house asset ratio (i.e. funds are not allowed to invest more than 5% of their assets, including fund assets, with related parties).<\/p>\n

The tax office is becoming better equipped to concentrate more of its efforts on new trustees who are failing to comply with superannuation laws. And they are creating an opportunity to stamp out bad habits early.<\/p>\n

Recent research by the ATO has shown that only 30% of all new trustees could adequately explain the most fundamental rule of SMSF – the sole-purpose test. The same survey also revealed, as highlighted by Smart Investing and the Noah Group that a quarter of new trustees were unaware of restrictions on the type of assets their funds could acquire. <\/p>\n

These survey findings have clearly disturbed the Minister for Superannuation, Nick Sherry, as well as senior tax officers.
\n Brett Marks points to another tax office initiative, new trustees have been required since July 2007 to sign a declaration that they understand their obligations and responsibilities. <\/p>\n

The Noah Group says that it is very important when using a SMSF to have your Financial Planner and Accountant involved in your investment structure to make sure you do not fall into the trap of not fulfilling you obligations under current taxation acts.<\/p>\n

\n
About the Author:<\/div>\n
Brett Marks established the Noah Group <\/a> in 2000 and has been providing investment guidance for tens of thousands of enterprising Australians to secure their future. By helping them realise the full potential of their assets through investment properties, shares and other investments all proven systems <\/a>that work together to maximise growth and reduce debt.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CEO of the Noah Group, Brett Marks, believes the Australian Tax Office is stepping up its focus on self-managed super funds and has warned trustees of these funds to beware.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2507,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[77],"class_list":["post-6118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","tag-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2507"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6118\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magic1host.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}