Liam Shorte, director of Sonas Wealth, said on the latest SMSF Adviser podcast that it is important that trustees check their total super balance (TSB) as it can dictate how they proceed regarding contributions and other strategies for the next financial year.
“For example, if somebody’s near the $500,000 level, they should really be looking at trying to keep themselves under that level in order to be able to use any unused contributions from the last five years,” Shorte said.
“One of the best tricks to do that is if your spouse or partner is on lower balance and to submit last year’s contributions to them. And you can still do that up to 30 June. That means contributions that went in last year, can go across to a spouse, which possibly frees up some space to make extra contributions for tax deductions this year.”
Shorte said trustees should learn how to get as much information as possible about their super balance from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
“They need to be able to log into MyGov, go to the ATO service and then navigate to the superannuation. They can use the information drop-down box and basically print off every section of that. It’s got a total super funds transfer balance cap, concession contributions to the year, unused concessional contributions carried forward, and the list of all the funds they have just in case they’ve missed and left a few out,” he said.
He emphasised that this information is not accessible to advisers, and if a trustee can supply this to their financial professional, the task of preparing for 30 June is made much simpler.
“TSB is so crucial for that unused amount and also for non-concessional contributions, so starting off with getting your information and then making sure the information’s right as your first step, even before actually getting into how much to contribute, is vital,” he said.
He added that it’s not just the trustee’s personal information that should be collected but also that of a spouse or partner, as a lot of strategies revolve around evening out balances and making room under the trustee’s cap.
“It’s really important information to have. The problem with SMSFs is you’ve got to make sure that your SMSF has actually reported your 2024 financials; otherwise, the information is going to be for the 2023 financial year,” he said.
“That’s why it’s important to get your SMSF financials done as early in the year as possible, just so that you have this planning ability. Advisers do not have access to the ATO portal, so getting them the information means they can provide better quality advice.”
