“Where an SMSF has contravened superannuation legislation, the law allows us to require the trustees to undertake a free education course,” the ATO said in a statement to SMSF Adviser.

“Previously we were able to offer free education courses developed and maintained by external providers, however, due to ongoing costs or content being out of date, these have all been withdrawn.

“The ATO is in the process of developing free online education modules for SMSFs based on our series of SMSF lifecycle publications – Starting an SMSF, Running an SMSF, and Winding up an SMSF.”

The ‘Starting an SMSF and ‘Winding up an SMSF’ publications are published on ato.gov.au, with the ‘Running an SMSF’ publication currently in the process of being finalised.

“We expect this publication and the free education modules completed by the end of the year,” it stated.

The ATO will not be issuing directions to educate until an appropriate free course is available.

SMSFA CEO Peter Burgess said this latest move is among a raft of ATO initiatives designed to help those wishing to start their own SMSF and manage associated compliance issues.

“Also of note is a new fact sheet that the ATO has now made available for advisers and accountants to in turn make available to SMSF trustees,” he added.

“This is to help clients understand the preservation rules basically, that is, the rules around members accessing their money early.”

He suggested practitioners with SMSF clients should familiarise themselves with the fact sheets as they are a very user-friendly tool for fund members and “really easy [to] read and something you can give out to your clients to make sure they understand the rules,” he said.