ATO gets thumbs up for reducing burden of SMSF event-based reporting

The SMSF Association welcomes the news that the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has followed several of its suggestions to reduce the compliance burden of transfer balance cap (TBC) event reporting on self-managed super fund (SMSF) trustees and their advisors.

From 1 July 2018, the ATO will allow SMSFs to report relevant TBC events on a quarterly basis if a member of the fund has a total super balance of $1 million or more and all other SMSFs will report on an annual basis.

SMSF Association CEO John Maroney says the Association is pleased that the ATO took heed of the industry’s concerns about event-based reporting and agreed to a balanced approach to reduce the compliance burden on SMSFs.

“This consultation shows that the ATO is willing to work with the industry to ease the implementation of event-based reporting.

From 1 July 2018 SMSFs with a member having $1 million or more in superannuation and receiving a pension from those assets will have to report to the ATO 28 days after each quarter on any TBC event. TBC events include starting a pension or commuting some or all of a pension.

In a positive development for SMSFs, the ATO has followed the Association’s recommendation to “carve-out” SMSF members with superannuation balances of under $1 million from event-based reporting of TBC events. These individuals will continue reporting under the current rules of annual SMSF reporting.

Maroney says: “The Association proposed, and the ATO agreed to, a $1 million superannuation balance threshold for individuals, reducing those receiving a pension and having to report by about 85%.

“This large potential compliance burden has been reduced for SMSF trustees and their accountants and advisors. Hence, this will further help facilitate the successful implementation of the Transfer Balance Account Report (TBAR).”

“We are also pleased that the ATO has simplified TBAR implementation by not progressing with a transition period before more onerous reporting timelines would apply. The simple requirement of ongoing quarterly reporting for relevant SMSFs provides clarity for all SMSFs and their advisors.”