The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has stated that it will focus on high net worth individuals and Self Managed Superannuation Funds (SMSF) misuse of the concessional tax environment, irrespective of whether it occurs deliberately or unintentionally.

The ATO announced that it will review over 15,100 SMSF’s for regulatory and compliance obligations and then a further 1,100 to check that they are compliant with income tax obligations. In addition the ATO will also look into the performance of 160 approved auditors.

Last financial year, the ATO reviewed more than 9,000 SMSF’s, raising nearly $16.4 million and made 132 SMSF’s non-compliant due to serious breaches of their obligations.

High net worth individuals will also be under scrutiny with the ATO to undertake 1,000 income tax reviews of Australians with net wealth between $5 and $30 million and 500 income tax reviews and audits of individuals with net wealth greater than $30 million.

Last financial year, the ATO completed 386 income tax reviews of wealthy Australians, raising $281 million in tax and 291 audits raising a further $1.1 billion.

The ATO has stated “We will contact people where their wealth seems at odds with what they are reporting on their income tax returns,”.

If you are concerned that your SMSF may not have in place its Investment Strategy or has not complied with that strategy then please speak with our Commercial Corporate team.