The regulator has said the SAR is a requirement to report super regulatory information, member contributions and pay the SMSF supervisory levy. For more information, trustees can refer to the 2024 SAR instructions.
If the fund doesn’t have any assets, trustees need to either make a return not necessary request or cancel the fund’s registration if the trustee no longer wishes to have an SMSF.
Failing to lodge a SAR on time can result in the compliance status of the SMSF on Super Fund Lookup being changed to “regulation details removed”, which may prevent rollovers and employer contributions being made to the fund.
Not all SMSFs have the same lodgment due date. If a trustee lodges their SAR through a tax agent, they will advise them of the due date, which will be either 15 May or 5 June 2025, unless it is a newly registered SMSF. For more information, see super lodgment.
If the trustee has engaged a new tax agent, they will need to nominate them to confirm they’re the authorised representative for the fund.
Trustees must appoint an approved SMSF auditor no later than 45 days before they need to lodge their SAR. Before lodgment, the trustee must ensure that their SMSF’s audit has been finalised and the SAR contains the correct auditor details.
When lodging an SAR, the ATO encourages trustee to report their Australian business number (ABN), so the ATO’s systems match members correctly.
Additionally, the ATO is reminding trustees that if their fund had transfer balance account events in the last quarter, they must lodge a TBAR by 28 April 2025.
It stated that SMSFs must report certain events that affect members’ transfer balance account quarterly using transfer balance account reporting, and they must report these events even if the member’s total superannuation balance is less than $1 million.
TBARs for the March quarter are due on 28 April 2025. If trustees fail to report on time, they may be subject to compliance action and penalties, and their member’s transfer balance account may be adversely affected. The member may need to commute any amounts more than their cap and pay more in excess transfer balance tax.
