SMSF firms warned to prepare for TBAR transition now

Under the current rules, some SMSFs can report annually depending on their total super balance.

Speaking on a recent SMSF Adviser Show podcast, Smarter SMSF chief executive Aaron Dunn said while a lot of SMSF firms will already have systems in place to be able to deal with the transition to quarterly based TBAR reporting for all their SMSF clients, SMSF professionals need to be conscious of the fact that this starts from 1 July.

“Don’t wait until the last minute. We need to start planning how where going to deal with this in terms of how you’ll communicate with clients, whether you’ve got access to data feeds and other things to ensure that you can get this work done on a timely basis,” Mr Dunn cautioned.

“Where these transfer balance account events are not reported within the correct timeframe, then the ATO has every right to issue failure to lodge on time penalties.”

With the value of each penalty unit recently increasing from $222 up to $275, Mr Dunn warned that trustees could see some fairly significant penalties being applied where TBARs have not been lodged on time.

Mr Dunn said it’s also important that SMSF professionals and trustees are aware that any events that occurred during the 2022–23 year must be reported no later than 28 October this year as opposed to the lodgement date of the annual return.

In a recent release, the ATO has encouraged SMSF trustees to start transitioning over to lodging quarterly now.

“[This] will save you time at the end of the income year,” the ATO stated.

The ATO also reminded SMSFs that the next deadline for quarterly reporters is 28 January 2023.

“You are required to lodge your TBAR by this date if a transfer balance account (TBA) event occurred in your member’s SMSF between 1 September and 31 December 2022 and any member of your SMSF has a total super balance greater than $1 million.”