SMSF trustees must pay a minimum amount each year to a member receiving a pension that commenced on or after 20 September 2007. These are mainly account-based pensions, also known as a super income stream.
If this has not been completed, the regulator said trustees need to ensure all members receiving an account-based pension are paid their minimum pension amount by 30 June.
This is calculated by applying the relevant percentage factor based on the member’s age by the member’s pension account balance calculated as of 1 July 2024 or on a pro-rata basis if the pension commenced partway through the 2024–2025 financial year.
If the minimum payment is not made by 30 June, this could result in adverse taxation consequences for the member.
For more information about how to calculate a member’s minimum pension payment by visiting the minimum pension standards.
Furthermore, the Tax Office has reminded SMSF auditors that they can use online services for business to request a list of SMSFs that reported their SAN on their annual return.
In 2023, the ATO stopped sending yearly mailouts to auditors with lists of SMSFs that reported an auditor’s SAN on the SMSF annual return for a specific year.
Auditors can now ask for these lists if they are worried about SAN misuse.
Additionally, auditors can request the list through online services for business. The list will show funds that reported the auditor’s SAN, where the ATO could not find a matching audit complete advice.
This financial year, only 21 auditors have requested a list of SMSFs reporting their SAN.
By checking the responses to these lists and matching audit complete advice with SARs, the regulator said it found 13 cases of SAN misuse involving 11 tax agents and 79 SMSFs. Of these, six were deliberate instances of SAN misuse and seven were inadvertent.
The Tax Office said that when it found deliberate SAN misuse by a tax agent, it would refer them to the Tax Practitioner’s Board (TPB), which may apply sanctions. This year, the ATO referred seven cases to the TPB, which issued five cautions.
The regulator said it encouraged auditors to lodge an audit complete advice through OSB after completing the audit, so it could identify potential SAN misuse.
