More than 160 SMSF trustees were disqualified in the second half of the last financial year, with more than 250 disqualified across the whole year.

SMSF trustees should be certain a breach, and not a disagreement between members, has occurred before any voluntary disclosure to the ATO.

Strict enforcement action will be taken by the ATO against trustees who are industry practitioners who still have outstanding SMSF annual returns.

The director of a corporate trustee who illegally accessed nearly $900,000 of superannuation has lost an appeal to have their disqualification overturned.

SMSFs making a voluntary disclosure regarding a breach should also have evidence of work undertaken to fix the problem and prevent more issues occurring.

The ATO’s early engagement and voluntary disclosure service should only be used if a contravention of the superannuation rules has occurred.