SMSF trustees planning to wind-up a fund have been encouraged by the ATO to use its YourSuper comparison tool to find another fund to roll over any benefits to, with the regulator noting having a new fund was part of the wind-up process.
In an update on its website, the regulator stated that in the event SMSF trustees decided the fund was no longer suitable for them and they planned to wind it up, that process had to be carried out correctly, including accounting for where the fund’s benefits would go.
“If you are winding up your SMSF and you do not meet a condition of release, you must roll over your benefits to another complying super fund,” it stated.
“There are a lot of super funds out there and you should compare different fund products to see what is going to meet your needs.”
It added the YourSuper comparison tool can provide information about what MySuper products may be suitable based on the details outgoing SMSF members provide.
“You can access this tool through your myGov account or for a non-personalised version you can access it from our website,” it said.
It noted the comparison tool only offered information on the basic superannuation accounts offered under the MySuper label, but SMSF members could rank the performance of those products by fees and net returns, and find the result from a product’s most recent Australian Prudential Regulation Authority performance test.
“Once you have found a fund that meets your needs, you can continue with winding up your SMSF,” it said.
“Remember, once your SMSF is wound up, it can’t be reactivated.”
In a separate update, the ATO also asked SMSF trustees to check if there were any errors in the auditor details that had been lodged in their SMSF annual return (SAR) and to lodge an amendment to rectify any mistakes.
It made the request as part of wider messaging regarding the SMSF auditor number (SAN) misuse mail-out that took place in October and had already led to reports from SMSF auditors that their auditor details may have been misused in recently lodged SARs.
“As part of our follow-up, we will be contacting tax agents and trustees in the next few weeks to ask for more information about the audit of specific SMSFs where we have been informed that the auditor listed in a SAR did not complete the audit,” it said.
“If tax agents or trustees believe that there may be an error of the auditor details which have been lodged in a SAR, we recommend that you check your lodgements now to confirm that all information is correct. Where you find an error, you should lodge an amendment to the SAR to rectify.”
