Include self-insured arrangements in GST changes, says ASFA

The Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) has called on the Government to include superannuation funds with self-insured arrangements in its amendments to the GST legislation.

In a submission regarding the GST Financial Supply Provisions exposure draft, ASFA welcomed the Government's proposal to allow reduced input tax credits (RITCs) to be claimed in relation to costs associated with the processing and assessing of insurance claims.

However, ASFA argued that for the "spirit of the change to be effectively enacted", superannuation funds with self-insured arrangements should not be excluded.

When it came to the treatment of trustee and responsible entity services under the proposed GST arrangement, ASFA said that "some entities [will] gain and some [will] lose".

"Overall ASFA supports the final decision to address the issue by reducing the RITC rate attributable to the acquisition by a recognised trust scheme of services from a trustee," said the ASFA submission.

However, ASFA argued that the implementation date for the changes should be delayed from 1 July 2012 to 1 January 2013.

"The reduction in the RITC rate for acquisitions of non-excluded services by a trustee will have a direct impact on the pricing of units in a unitised trust," ASFA said.

If the GST changes are implemented by 1 July 2012, trustees could be "exposed to claims of unit pricing errors", said ASFA.