It acknowledged that there had been issues for some SMSFs in obtaining an ESA, which meant they could not rollover funds and had since March 2022 been providing temporary relief to allow rollovers to be processed on paper forms if they received approval from the ATO.

However, this relief will be ending on 30 June due to the number of messaging providers now available and only a small number of trustees engaging with the ATO for the relief.

Self-managed funds can find a list of SMSF messaging providers that offer an ESA for rollover services on the ATO website.

Only one ESA can be recorded with the ATO for each SMSF, so if a fund requires both rollover and contribution services, they need to select an SMSF messaging provider that offers both.

Assistance can also be obtained from an SMSF professional.

The ATO advised that if a fund is still experiencing issues in obtaining an ESA after 30 June and they proceed to make a rollover without using an ESA, the SMSF auditor will be expected to report this to the ATO as a contravention of the super laws.

Auditors should provide details in the auditor contravention report as to why the fund experienced issues getting an ESA and the ATO said it will take this into account when considering the imposition of any penalties.