Self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) services provider, SuperConcepts has backed a call made by Tax and Super Australia to extend lodgement dates and company tax for personal and company tax FY2018-19 due to complications caused by the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
Lara Bourguignon, chief executive at SuperConcepts said that the company had implemented a contingency plan in response to COVID-19 within a week of the global pandemic declaration and this included programs that empowered SuperConcepts’ workforce to abide by lock-down practices across three continents.
Following this, the company provided its 800-strong workforce across Australia, India and Vietnam with the support and training needed to help transition to a work from home basis and helped manage all other challenges with regards to of people management, IT and Software updates and personalised customer care.
“Our dedicated administrative team is not only on track to meet the new 30 June tax lodgement deadline but has also been able to get through a back-log of tax returns from previous years caused by legislative changes in 2017-18,” Michael Pease, general manager of operations and customer service officer at SuperConcepts, said.
According to Graeme Colley, executive manager of technical education at SuperConcepts, there was a keen interest from trustees and advisors seeking extra support and information on how to navigate the changes to legislation for SMSF that were enacted to combat COVID-19 nationally.
“We have had a spike in attendees to our online education programs, with a focus on questions relating to self-managed superannuation funds from both trustees and advisors. These have primarily been about lodgement extensions and early release of funds,” he said.
“Had we not been in such a positive, stable and certain position with our own COVID-19 response, we may not have had the bandwidth to develop tailored responses to our customers’ unique circumstances with such certainty,” Colley said.
