Accountants have traditionally been the go-to people when it comes to setting up and managing Self Manage Super Funds (SMSF). This has now changed. From 1 July 2016, the laws around what advice accountants are allowed to give has changed.
Previously, under the accountant’s exemption, accountants were allowed to recommend establishing or winding up an SMSF. However, this accountant’s exemption was removed 1 July 2016.
Essentially, accountants are now only allowed to talk about things such as:
Tax;
Accounting or administration;
SMSF compliance with regulations.
While you may think this covers most things to do with a SMSF, think again. Things such as:
Should I start a SMSF?
Should I roll my super into pension phase?
Should I increase my contributions into super?
These are no longer conversations accountants are allowed to have with their clients.
While this sounds like a huge change (which it is), this hasn’t exactly crept up on us accountants. We have known this was coming for over 3 years now.
The good news is that Peer Wealth are licenced as an Authorised Representative through Futuro Financial Services.
Meet Doug Atkinson, our saviour. Anyone who owns a SMSF or is looking to establish a SMSF in the future will get to know Doug a lot better. Feel free to check him out here:http://peerwealth.com.au/team.php
The good news is most accountants are now outsourcing a lot of their SMSF advice work to an external financial planner to deal with. With us having Doug as already part of our team, we are able to continue to provide our clients with great SMSF advice.