In his speech, Mr O’Halloran said the law currently requires that an election for the relief must be made on or before the day the SMSF’s 2016-17 annual return is due to be lodged.

“Therefore, it is very important that SMSFs do not lodge late and miss this opportunity to take advantage of this CGT relief,” he said.

Mr O’Halloran indicated in his speech that this raises an issue with the timing of the election where an SMSF has been granted an extension to lodge their 2016-17 return.

Mr Burgess said the ATO is looking to apply a practical approach here, however, so the ATO will accept a deferred lodgement date where one has been granted.

“While it will be important for SMSF trustees to lodge their 2016-17 returns by the statutory due date, if they are not going to be able to do that and they want to be eligible for CGT relief, they will need to apply for and receive an extended lodgement date from the ATO,” said Mr Burgess.

“So if you have applied for an extension and you’ve been granted that extension, then for the purposes of claiming CGT relief, it’s acceptable if you lodge by that extended date.”