"Maybe I read the article wrong and assumed that the penalty goes to the SMSF trustee? That's certainly one to look out for Enn, my SMSF tax/audit fees are that low that they wouldn't be splitting a lot and as long as the fees stay within my expectations I'm satisfied unless I'm the one who gets penalised, more research required I guess? " ----------------
Hello Sabbath, Fees are not everything. If your SMSF becomes non-compliant the penalties from the ATO are severe.
I probably need to clarify my earlier post. When I said the accountant was penalised, it was by her professional body, not the ATO, at least at that stage. ( I don't know whether it was CPA Australia or the ATO which subsequently ensured she was put out of business.)
This was as a result of my complaint to CPA Australia that
(a) she had failed to complete my SMSF tax return on time, despite having had the material for more than six months, and
(b) when I pointed out for the third time that she had only days to get the audit done before the lodgement date, she blithely said "oh don't worry about that, the auditor doesn't even see it, he knows my work and just signs off on everything." !!!
I had found three significant errors in the tax return, all to my disadvantage, so contacted the ATO for advice. They were very helpful and granted an extension, which of course I should never have had to ask for.
Obviously, I'm not going to be impressed by not having a proper audit completed. This is supposed to be my assurance that the accounting in the tax return has been done correctly.
CPA Australia were very thorough in their enquiry, and censured her.
But a really important point that came out of all this miserable affair is that the trustee of the SMSF is ultimately responsible for anything that goes wrong.
Even if your accountant or auditor behaves in the most egregious fashion, causing your fund to become non-compliant, you as the trustee are the one who is responsible. That, at least, was the situation at the time, about six years ago, and I'd be surprised if it had changed.
So I'd suggest being very sure about the integrity of your accountant, ensuring the audit is done by another firm entirely, and perhaps being prepared to pay a bit more if necessary to ensure there are no scams going on.
