The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has formally announced that they will be streamlining transfer balance account reporting (TBAR) for self-managed super funds (SMSFs) from 1 July 2023.

This follows consultation with the community, industry, and tax professionals on streamlining the lodgement of transfer balance account event-based reporting for all SMSFs.

As a result of the streamlining of the TBAR requirements for SMSFs, from 1 July 2023:

• The $1 million total super balance (TSB) threshold will be removed; and
• will require all SMSFs to report 28 days after the end of the quarter in which the event occurred (even where they were previously allowed to report annually).

From 1 July 2023, all SMSFs must report transfer balance account events 28 days after the end of the quarter which the event occurred (28 Jan, 28 April, 28 July, 28 October).

Other reporting timeframes

The obligation to report earlier will remain for:

• a commutation of an income stream in response to an excess transfer balance determination (10 business days after the end of the month in which the commutation occurred)
• a response to a commutation authority must be reported by the legislated due date, as specified on the notice.

It should be noted that funds/trustees may choose to report transfer balance account events more frequently, allowing for individuals to better manage their transfer balance cap and avoid excess transfer balance tax. For example, this would be beneficial when the member rolls over their interest from an SMSF to an APRA fund.

You can refer to the ATO website for details of this announcement.