“One of the problems that the SMSF sector has encountered is that some SMSF members have found it difficult to obtain an electronic service address,” he stated.

This was particularly the case for SMSFs that weren’t using one of the major SMSF administration platforms.

The ATO consequently decided to provide concessions to some SMSFs, noted Mr Burgess, to allow certain rollovers to occur outside of SuperStream.

“In other words, revert back to the older paper based approach of rolling money between funds,” he said.

“However, this only applies where an SMSF is rolling money into an APRA fund or where the SMSF is rolling money to another SMSF. So, your client can apply to the ATO for approval to perform a rollover outside of SuperStream.”

Mr Burgess noted that this only applies where the client hasn’t been able to access an electronic service address for a particular reason.

However, given that Australia Post is now offering an ESA service to SMSFs for a notional fee, Mr Burgess said it is a much more difficult argument to put to the ATO that you can’t get an ESA.

“The ATO have told us that they have received very few requests for this approval, so it's very likely that this relief will be removed before the end of this calendar year,” he stated.

In the meantime, any clients that want to roll over between another SMSF or over to an APRA fund outside of SuperStream can apply to get the relief from the ATO, said Mr Burgess.

“They need to jot down the call reference number, because that's what the auditor is going to want to see. The auditor will see that there has been a paper-based rollover and they'll want to see that there is a reference number from the ATO,” he said.