Some accountants are waiting until the last minute to lodge their licence application, but there are risks to this approach. If you don’t lodge your licence application by 30 June, the earliest you may be able to apply again is July 2019!
This is because after 30 June, you’ll need to accumulate 3 years of experience as an authorised representative to demonstrate to ASIC that you have the requisite experience to be a Responsible Manager on a licence. While most accountants have this experience for SMSFs, they cannot lawfully demonstrate they have that experience for class of product authorisations.
Think you don’t need class of product authorisations? Think again! Do you recommend shares in pension phase for tax reasons? Do you warn clients when they should have life insurance? Do you suggest an SMSF to open a bank account? Then you need class of product authorisations!
Be mindful also of ASIC’s pre-lodgement check. If you lodge your application on 30 June, and ASIC assesses it as woefully inadequate, they will not accept your application for processing. You’ll need to start all over again—and you just missed the licensing boat. Now you have to wait until 2019!
There is no reason to delay until the last minute. SMSF advice will continue to be exempt until 1 July. No additional obligations will apply to you if you obtain an AFS licence early, and you’ll have the comfort of knowing your licence is already settled.
Start now, prepare well, lodge early. This is the formula for getting your limited licence in 2016. If you have not already completed your training, you will need to undertake a fast-track training option as some self-study courses take up to 12 weeks per module, or nearly a whole year for the entire course.
If you’re still not sure what you’re going to do, check out the webinar we did with Perpetual Private on whether a limited licence is right for you.
The Fold can also assist accountants by:
- Setting up compliance policies, procedures and templates;
- Reviewing authorised representative agreements; and
- Helping you to obtain a licence – we offer a fixed price end-to-end licensing solution.
By Jaime Lumsden Kelly