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One of the big four firms has urged accountants to be cautious of wholly relying on the ATO’s records when it comes to assessing their clients' superannuation contribution history.
PwC’s director of private clients, Liz Westover, strongly advised accountancy professionals to compare ATO records against the information they have on file about their clients.
“I’ve dealt with the Tax Office on misreporting issues where people were impacted by excess contribution taxation issues. If those ECT assessments hadn’t arisen, no one would have been aware of the misreporting going on.”
Ms Westover said while it probably didn’t matter as much in previous years, this information is now vital in light of the government’s proposed measures.
“Get the information from the Tax Office by all means, but compare it to your own records and get in touch with the Tax Office if you think there is a discrepancy between those contribution amounts.”
Ms Westover said she expects to see draft legislation in coming weeks, adding that most of it will likely be passed.
“In actual fact, I’m surprised we don’t have some of it already, but it’s impending,” she said.
She also warned accountants not to assume that any plans they have with clients will remain compliant or appropriate.
“You need to go back and look at every arrangement and every client and look at new opportunities, and revisit what you already had in place for these guys [and] how these budget changes are going to impact on that.”
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