Does your self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) own a motor vehicle, artwork, wine, coins, jewellery or other collectibles?
More stringent rules for how these collectible and personal use assets are managed come into effect for all funds from 30 June 2016. While it’s important for all SMSFs to ensure that they are compliant with the rules, funds with collectibles purchased before 1 July 2011 have had a grace period to get their house in order. This grace period ends on 30 June 2016.
There is around $407 million worth of these collectible and personal use assets sitting in SMSFs in Australia. The Tax Office’s main concern is that it’s really easy for fund members to forget that these assets – like artwork and cars – are owned by the fund and must be held for retirement purposes. That means members of the fund (or anyone related to them) can’t use or enjoy that asset.
If you have these assets in your fund (or are looking to acquire them), here’s what you need to ensure:
- The asset must not be leased to a related party – a related party includes a member of the fund, their relatives, business partners, the spouse or child of these business partners), or any company or trust that the fund members control or influence.
- The asset must not be stored in the private residence of the related party – this includes sheds and garages etc.
- The trustees must keep a written record of where, how, and why the asset is to be stored.
- The asset must be insured in the fund (trustees) name. If your SMSF is buying a collectible, insurance needs to be in place within the first seven days. If the fund already owns the asset it must be insured in the trustees name before 1 July 2016!
- The asset must not be used by a related party. For example, if your fund owns a vintage car, you cannot drive it for any reason, not even to go to the mechanic.
- If the asset is sold to a related party, the asset must be sold at a market price determined by a qualified and independent valuer.
A few issues come out of these requirements. Sometimes insurance is difficult or impossible to get for collectible assets. If you can’t secure insurance, the asset may need to be sold. If a collectible asset needs to be sold because the rules can’t be met, the sale process can sometimes be protracted – this could be an issue if you need to sell the asset pre 30 June.
Before your fund acquires a collectible asset, it’s also important to ensure that the fund Trust Deed allows for collectibles to be acquired, the Investment Strategy of the fund allows for the collectible to be acquired, and that the sole purpose of acquiring the collectible is to provide retirement benefits for members.
What is a collectible and personal use asset?
The definition of a collectible is quite broad and will often capture assets that many fund members don’t realise qualify as collectibles.
A common example is motor vehicles. The definition of a collectible includes motor vehicles such as utes, not just classic cars that are generally considered collectors items.
When the Tax Office talks about collectibles, they mean: artwork – including paintings, sculptures, drawings, engravings and photographs; jewellery; antiques; artefacts; coins, medallions or bank notes (coins and banknotes are collectables if their value exceeds their face value, and bullion coins are collectables if their value exceeds their face value and they are traded at a price above the spot price of their metal content); postage stamps or first-day covers; rare folios, manuscripts or books; memorabilia; wine or spirits; motor vehicles and motorcycles; recreational boats; and, memberships of sporting or social clubs.
FBT 2016: The top 5 things every business needs to know
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The FBT rate will stay at 49% until 31 March 2017 when the impact of the debt tax is scheduled to be removed.
2. Meal entertainment crackdown – medical professionals beware
If your business is an FBT exempt entity (public and not-for-profit hospitals, public benevolent institutions, health promotion charities, public ambulance service) or qualifies for the FBT rebate, then there are significant changes that come into play on 1 April you need to be across.
In the past, employees of FBT exempt and rebatable entities have been able to salary sacrifice an unlimited amount of meal entertainment expenses (e.g., restaurant meals) with no impact on their existing annual caps. But, this will all change on 1 April 2016. From this date, a separate single grossed-up cap of $5,000 for salary sacrificed meal entertainment benefits for employees of exempt and rebatable employers will apply.
To give you some idea of the impact let’s look at the example of a doctor employed by a public hospital who salary sacrifices $32,000 of meal entertainment benefits. If the doctor salary sacrificed these benefits in the 2015-16 FBT year, the full $32,000 would be exempt from FBT and he has nothing to report in his tax return. If the doctor salary sacrifices these benefits in the 2016-17 FBT year, then the first $5,000 will not count towards their annual exemption cap. However, the balance will be taken into account in determining whether the employee exceeds their exemption cap for the year. If this excess amount causes the employee to exceed their annual exemption cap then an FBT liability will arise. The entire amount (including the first $5,000) will also be included in their reportable fringe benefits amount for the year, which could impact on their ability to satisfy other income based tests within the tax system.
As an employer, it will be essential to review the existing salary packages of team members affected by the changes as someone will be paying the extra FBT that arises as a result of the new cap being introduced.
3. Salary sacrificing may not be worth it
By now you should have reviewed any salary sacrifice agreements to ensure that they are still viable at the higher 49% FBT rate. In some cases, salary sacrifice agreements may no longer achieve the intended goals and simply create an administrative burden for little to no benefit.
For high income earners (above $180k) however, the difference in timing between the FBT year and the income year means that there will be a planning opportunity between 1 April 2017 when the FBT rate reduces back to 47% and 30 June 2017 when the 2% debt tax is removed.
With any salary sacrifice agreement just be aware that certain rules must be followed. For example, the appropriate documentation needs to be in place to ensure that the arrangement is ‘effective’. This means that the employee should agree in writing to forgo an amount of salary and wages before that entitlement has been earned. If it’s after, it’s not valid and the employee will simply be taxed on that amount. The business would also be liable for obligations such as PAYG withholding and superannuation guarantee amounts.
4.Two laptops are better than one for small business
If your business is a small business (turnover under $2m), from 1 April 2016 the FBT exemption on portable electronic devices will be extended. From this date, you can offer employees more than one work-related portable electronic device, such as a mobile phone, laptop and tablet and not have to pay FBT on it even if the device is the same or similar to other devices already provided in that same FBT year. All other businesses are limited to one device that is identical or similar to another.
5.Yoga or gym classes at the office?
Wondering what to do with that extra office space? Put in gym facilities for the team? Use a room for a yoga class or personal trainer perhaps? A recent ATO decision confirmed that the FBT implications of these two options are quite different. The reason is the definition of a “recreational facility.” A recreational facility is exactly that, a facility for recreation. Recreational facilities can be exempt from FBT if certain conditions can be met. However, a fitness class or a personal trainer is not a recreational facility and therefore, FBT would generally apply.