The ATO has warned financial advice practitioners to not misuse an SMSF auditor number (SAN) to meet the pending deadline for the lodgement of SMSF annual returns (SAR).
In an update on its website, the regulator stated practitioners and trustees should not report an audit as being complete unless the auditor has signed and dated the independent auditor’s report, and with the bulk of SARs due on 15 May, they should be alert to SAN misuse.
“Do not report in the SAR that an audit is complete when it is not, just to meet your client’s due date,” the ATO stated.
“Before you lodge, make sure the auditor has signed and dated the SMSF independent auditor’s report and the trustees have received a copy of the report.
“If the audit will not be completed in time, seek an extension of time to lodge. Do not use an auditor’s SAN before the audit is complete. This amounts to SAN misuse.
“Take extra care if you use software to complete the SAR. Some products carry over the previous year’s auditor details.
“If the fund has changed auditors, check that the SAN and auditor details are correct before you lodge.”
The ATO pointed out that it continues to view SAN misuse as a serious issue and can refer tax agents who deliberately misuse one to the Tax Practitioners Board.
It also reminded auditors they can check for misuse of their number by requesting a list of audits linked to their SAN through the ATO’s Online Services for Business.
In a separate update, trustees were urged to contact their tax agent if their fund’s 2025 SAR had not been lodged, highlighting that any fund registered before the 2025 income year and to which a tax professional has been appointed must lodge by 15 May.
“If your 2025 SMSF annual return hasn’t been lodged, then you’ll need to contact your tax professional immediately to arrange lodgement as it is now overdue,” the ATO stated.
“If you fail to lodge your SMSF annual return on time, compliance actions may apply. Not all SMSFs have the same lodgement due date, so check which due date applies to your SMSF.
“Failure to lodge by the due date can result in penalties and the loss of your SMSF’s tax concessions,” it stated, adding SARs that are more than two weeks late may result in a change of compliance status on Super Fund Lookup.
This change would prevent other funds from being able to roll over member benefits and employers making super guarantee payments to the members.
Jason Spits
SENIOR JOURNALIST
Jason is a senior journalist with Benchmark Media and writes for the selfmanagedsuper website and magazine and smstrusteenews website. He has covered financial services since 1999 and has written about life insurance, superannuation, investment management and financial advice, in both a freelance and in-house capacity, and also did a brief stint as a media manager for an industry association. He has been the editor of trade titles Money Management and Financial Standard, and was most recently senior journalist with life insurance title Riskinfo.
Articles by Jason