The ATO has revealed SMSFs have been using its transfer balance account report (TBAR) to inform the regulator of events affecting their transfer balance cap and total super balance, with the system so far working well.
“Some SMSFs have already started reporting earlier and there have been no issues in receiving those forms and for the reporting to happen,” ATO SMSF segment assistant commissioner Kasey Macfarlane told selfmanagedsuper.
Lodgement via paper TBAR forms was made available in October last year.
The online TBAR form is now active.
Trustees and agents can log on to the business portal to complete the form.
The SMSF will need to have a current and active Australian business number in order to use the form.
An ATO spokesperson said the tax office was working on updating the online form to allow reporting of unlimited multiple events for a member and for agents to access the form via the agent portal.
“We anticipate these enhancements will be available from April 2018 in time to support the majority of SMSFs commencing their transfer balance account reporting,” the spokesperson told selfmanagedsuper.
Commenting on the investment the ATO made to prepare for the new events-based reporting regime, Macfarlane said: “In terms of the implementation of the super changes, all of this has been factored in.
“Yes, we did have to implement system changes and put in mechanisms to be able to receive the TBAR, et cetera, and manage all of that because it doesn’t just impact SMSFs, it’s across the board as all super funds have to report these events.”
She noted superannuation would continue to be a priority area for the ATO this year.
“Given all the reforms I’m confident that we’ve had all the sufficient resources, et cetera, applied to have everything in place,” she said.
“In fact, it’s already in place as TBAR reporting is up and running with the large Australian Prudential Regulation Authority funds already reporting to us and, again, a number of SMSFs also reporting to us without issue.”
The TBAR regime requires SMSFs to report applicable events from 1 July 2018, however, SMSFs can start reporting to the ATO earlier.
