The defeated proposals created unintended consequences, says Darren Kingdon, spokesman for Small Independent Superannuation Funds Association (SISFA).

‘These consequences included unwarranted restrictions imposed on in-specie benefit payments, which in effect may have impeded or prevented the winding up of an SMSF,’ he says.

SISFA is the only SMSF industry body representing administrators, accountants, auditors, lawyers, actuaries and advisers.

Broadly, the original proposal broadly was to ban:

• In-specie (in kind) contributions – assets going in to SMSFs from related parties; and
• In-specie payments – assets sold or paid out to related parties.

‘Previously, the Government considered that contributing listed shares to superannuation funds (referred to as in-specie contributions) resulted in tax and contribution cap date manipulation to illegally benefit the SMSF or the related party, despite there being no evidence to this effect,’ he says.

 ‘The matter was already the subject of various ATO rulings & publications,’ he says, and ‘fortunately commonsense has prevailed on both counts’.

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