The ATO has announced that from late August you will be able to request clients’ post 1 July 2007 NCC lifetime cap balance via the tax agent portal mail facility.

TriSuper Auditors will be testing this facility as it becomes available.

We suggest you consider the following when reviewing Non Concessional contribution balances received back from the ATO:

• The NCC figures are only as reliable as the data entered into yearly tax returns since 1 July 2007.  It may be that contributions have been incorrectly reported in some cases, especially small business CGT concessions and concessional personal contributions.

• It’s likely members will be unaware of the level and existence of contributions made to non-SMSF accounts since 2007.  We note the example of payment of life insurance premiums that are actually held in a super account.

Reviewing data over the past 10 years will be challenging and we wait to see what level of detail the ATO reports will contain to assist.

As we noted in our post election update, the Government has yet to finalise details of the lifetime NCC cap budget measure – resulting in a cloud of uncertainty.  We do take some comfort the Treasurer has indicated transitional provisions will apply to protect some pre-budget arrangements.

TriSuper Auditors will keep you updated with further developments.

In the meantime, please do contact us if you have any questions on the proposed measure for clarification on your specific client circumstances.