SMSFs using the Small Business Super Clearing House (SBSCH) to direct employer superannuation guarantee (SG) payments into their fund will be limited to nominating one bank account with the ATO and may need to redirect contributions to the accounts of multiple members.
Accurium head of education Mark Ellem said the issue was unlikely to affect many SMSF members, but those impacted needed to act before the next scheduled SG payment in late April.
Speaking during a recent online briefing, Ellem noted the issue of account nomination arose after the ATO made changes to the SMSF bank account verification process for the SBSCH and currently only one account can be nominated, with the only changes possible being to delete or update the details of that account or change to another account.
“What if a fund had more than one bank account into which contributions were made?” he said.
“I did phone the ATO and spoke to their SMSF section and their small business section and both confirmed that an SMSF can only provide the details of one bank account to be recorded on their ATO record.”
He added the number of SMSFs where members were receiving employer contributions via the ATO SBSCH and had more than one bank account to which contributions were made, due to things such as a segregated investment strategy, was likely to be small, but there was a solution to work around the limit.
“Nominate one of the bank accounts as the one for which the BSB/account number is recorded with the ATO,” he said.
“All SMSF members use that account to advise their employer to make contributions via the ATO SBSCH. Monitor the bank account for a contribution from the ATO SBSCH and then ‘sweep’ the contribution to the correct bank account for the relevant member.
“Alternately, set up a new bank account to receive all employer contributions via SBSCH and then ‘sweep’ the relevant amounts to the correct respective bank account.
“Again, this only affects a very small number of SMSFs, but for those it does apply to, they need to sort out a solution pronto as the next SG contribution, for the March 2024 quarter, is due 28 April and could be made anytime from now.”
