- In the inaugural National Superannuation Conferernce, The Tax Institute brought together regulators and leading practitioners from the legal, accounting, audit and financial advisory services fields of the superannuation industry for two full days to discuss tax and other challenges and opportunities that exist within the ever-changing operating environment of superannuation.
- Uniquely, this Conference was designed for tax professionals from both the large fund and self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) sectors. A mixture of plenary sessions and two streams of breakout sessions (streams "A' and "B') were offered. Stream "A' sessions were primarily for delegates from the large fund sector while stream "B' sessions are for delegates from the SMSF sector.
- Plenary sessions covered:
- keynote address - benchmarking Australia's superannuation system against the best in the world
- recent trends and developments for superannuation tax law
- recent developments affecting contribution strategies and practices
- licensing issues
- pensions - exploring changes in the treatment of pensions.
- Stream "A' sessions covered:
- capturing tax within unit prices or crediting rates
- large fund issues and the ATO
- tax considerations relevant to investments by superannuation funds
- living to age 120, the pensions dilemma and other defined benefit conundrums
- tax issues in successor fund transfers
- what you need to know about superannuation guarantee
- tax audits on large funds - what to look out for.
- Stream 'B' sessions covered:
- borrowing to acquire real property - is it worth all of the trouble?
- small business CGT relief and related party transactions
- indirect taxes
- insurance applications
- benefit payments
- SMSF issues and the ATO
- practical Issues in administering and auditing SMSFs.