SMSF advisers using spreadsheets to lodge transfer balance account reports (TBAR) are being pushed to use the ATO’s online services portal after the SMSF regulator announced spreadsheet-based TBARs would be rejected after 31 October.
In an online update, the regulator stated it had introduced the spreadsheet version of the TBAR form as an interim solution and all of the reporting functions found in the spreadsheet had been available via the Online Services for Agents website since March 2019.
The ATO noted that while the use of the spreadsheet TBAR had created an electronic option for those reporting, “it is linked to a higher error rate associated with reverse workflow for [tax] agents and slower processing times”.
It said the online form would pre-fill the supplier and provider details with the relevant information of the adviser and their SMSF clients’ details, and also pre-fill member details for the second and subsequent events for the same member.
Unlike the spreadsheet report, the online version would also include inbuilt verification rules to reduce reporting errors, it stated, adding events reported via the online form would typically be processed by the ATO’s systems within 24 hours.
“If the agent is also an agent for the individual, they will be able to see that information reflected in the member’s transfer balance account at the same time,” it added.
The cut-off date for the spreadsheet report form comes after the next quarterly TBAR due date of 28 October, but the ATO has stressed 31 October will be a hard cut-off date.
“We will not be processing spreadsheet TBAR forms that are received after midnight of 31 October 2019. We will advise agents that we will not process their lodgement and redirect them to Online Services for Agents,” it said.
Reflecting comments made earlier in the year about TBAR over-reporting, the ATO restated that SMSFs were only required to make a report by 28 October if the fund fell under the event-based reporting framework and if any member had a transfer balance account event between July and September.
