“When you lodge on time, you’re making sure your super is visible, valued, owned and safeguarded for your retirement,” the ATO said.

For funds lodging a SAR, the due date is generally 28 February following the financial year, 31 October if the SMSF didn’t lodge the return for the previous financial year on time, and 31 October for those lodging on their first year.

“The SAR is more than an income tax return. It’s used to report super regulatory information, member contributions, and pay the SMSF supervisory levy. The amount you pay for your supervisory levy is stated in the return,” the ATO explained.

“All operational funds need to lodge a SAR. Your fund is operational if you have super rolled over from an APRA regulated account. Even if you’ve only been operational for part of the financial year, you’ll need to lodge a SAR.”

The ATO also flagged that for funds that need to make any changes once it has submitted the SAR, it should resubmit the whole return. 

“Make sure you answer ‘yes’ in section A at question 5, Is this an amendment to the SMSF’s annual return?” the ATO explained.

“Remember, transfer balance account report (TBAR) is a separate reporting obligation. You don’t need to include this information in your SAR.”   

This comes as SMSFs with late lodgements will continue to be under close scrutiny this year, with the ATO still looking to see further improvement in this area.