Did you miss your lodgment due date?
Contact ATO or speak to your tax professional now if your 2023 SAR has not been lodged.
If you missed your Self-Managed Super Fund (SMSF) Annual Return (SAR) lodgment due date of 28 February, it is important to get on top of things now.
Your SMSF is required to lodge by 28 February if you are preparing the SAR yourself or if you registered your SMSF during the 2023 income year and you have a tax professional.
If you haven’t lodged your SAR and have not contacted ATO, then the compliance status of your SMSF will be changed on Super Fund Lookup. When your status is changed to ‘regulation details removed’, APRA funds will not be able to roll over member benefits and employers are recommended to not make employer contributions. This status will remain until your overdue lodgments are brought up to date.
If your fund does not have any assets, you need to either make a return not necessary request or cancel your fund’s registration if you no longer wish to have an SMSF.
ATO may also consider further compliance actions if your lodgments remain overdue.
Need help?
If you’ve not lodged and you’re having difficulty preparing your return, contact ATO or talk to your registered tax professional about your options.
Understanding illegal early access and how to help
Tax and super professionals play a key role in helping address illegal early access to super.
Your professional status in the community means people pay attention to your perspective so take the opportunity to bust myths and help people understand when they can legitimately access their retirement savings from an SMSF.
Over 80% of SMSFs are registered with the support of a professional. If the registration of an SMSF doesn’t look or feel right for your client, you should ask them if they:
- Really understand what they’re getting into
- Know when they can legitimately access their super
- Are aware of the financial costs associated with doing something illegal.
Non-lodgement and financial difficulties are also warning signals that your clients might be facing difficulties. If you see clients in this situation, reach out and remind them of their obligations and the rules.
Professionals can use their insights into specific client’s circumstances and help resolve any issues early, as well as making good use of our voluntary disclosure service and lodgment deferral services.
ATO also have Illegal early access to the super fact sheet which provides useful information about when a member can legally access their super, the consequences, and warns against the dangers of promoters. It is a good starting point for a conversation with your clients.
You can also report any promoters of illegal access of super schemes using ATO tip off form.
Visit ATO website for more information on illegal early access to super.
Losses from Crypto Investments
ATO continue to see instances where funds are reporting losses with crypto investments.
ATO continue to see SMSF trustees reporting losses with crypto investments due to scams and other reasons.
Crypto investment losses have been caused by:
- Scams, where trustees were conned into investing their superannuation benefits in a fake crypto exchange
- Theft, where fraudsters would hack into trustees crypto accounts to steal all their crypto
- Collapsed crypto trading platforms, many of which were based overseas
- Lost passwords resulting in trustees being locked out of their crypto account and unable to access their crypto, and
- Scammers pretending to be from the ATO, telling people they are suspected of being involved in cryptocurrency tax evasion. They are then asked to connect their wallet and provide detailed information via a link.
Trustees thinking of investing in crypto need to be aware of the ways crypto can be lost, including via scams and how they can avoid them. ACCC’s Scamwatch and the MoneySmart section on ASIC’s website have useful information on how to spot scams and what to do if you’ve been targeted.
Many crypto assets are not considered to be financial products. This means the platform where you buy and sell crypto is usually not regulated so you may not be protected if the platform fails or is hacked and you could lose all of your crypto.
Investing in crypto can be complex and risky so ATO recommend trustees seek financial advice before investing and read both MoneySmart and the SMSF investing in crypto assets page.
You can also check out ATO short Crypto myth busting videos:
- SMSFs investing in crypto reminds you of your regulatory obligations you need to meet when investing in crypto assets
- Lost access for my crypto provides details of how your SMSF may be able to claim a capital loss in situations where you lose on your investment or your crypto is stolen.
Exemption of certain lump sum payments from the Medicare levy
Treasury has issued the Treasury Laws Amendment Bill 2024: Medicare levy lump sum exemption. The Draft proposes to amend the Medicare Levy Act 1986 to make changes to how certain eligible lump sum payments in arrears are assessed for the purposes of the Medicare levy.
The changes ensure low-income taxpayers are not denied concessional Medicare levy treatment solely as a result of receiving an eligible lump sum payment, eg as compensation for underpaid wages. This means a taxpayer receiving a lump sum payment in arrears is eligible for the exemption from the Medicare levy if specific criteria are met.
Treasury is also seeking feedback on the effectiveness on the accompanying exposure draft explanatory material in explaining the policy context and operation of the proposed new law.
Date of effect: For assessments from the 2024-25 income year.
Submissions are due by 23 April 2024.
Source: Australian Taxation Office
