“We definitely have some ground to make up there. Our message is simple, if trustees are experiencing difficulties with lodging outstanding returns, they should contact us before we take action,” Mr Micale cautioned.

Mr Micale said the ATO considers SMSF annual lodgement to be a fundamental compliance responsibility for all trustees as it provides the regulator with visibility over the fund’s compliance with its regulatory and tax obligations.

“We have found that when an SMSF stops lodging, this can also be an indicator of broader compliance issues. Having said that, we do understand there can be other factors at play,” he stated.

He reminded trustees that where they fail to lodge on time, the ATO will automatically change the status of the fund on superfund lookup.

“This involves us updating the status of an SMSF on super fund lookup to regulation details removed, and having this status in place means that APRA funds won’t be able to roll over any benefits to the SMSF, and employers won’t be able to make any super guarantee contributions for the SMSF members,” he said.

“This status will remain until all outstanding lodgements are received. Our clear observation is that when an SMSF stops lodging, it often means the fund is having issues meeting some of its other obligations.”