In this guide
Just as you don’t need an accountant to lodge personal income tax returns, it is possible to do the same when it comes to lodging your SMSF’s accounts. However, you will need to have good administration software and a clear understanding of the super rules and regulations.
Who’s it for?
Doing the accounts for your own SMSF would suit a fund with all members in accumulation phase and with a simple investment strategy. It might also suit trustees who already have a business and who are already familiar with software that meets the minimum security requirements a Digital Service Provider (DSP) needs to access ATO digital services. (See below for a list of providers.)
You will also need time – a commodity not necessarily in surplus for business owners.
Dealing with the ATO
In our article on ways that SMSFs can be ultra-low cost, we explain everything you need to do to set up an SMSF yourself, from creating a trust deed to putting together an investment strategy. However, one thing you will need to keep doing after you’ve set up an SMSF is to lodge its tax return and financial statements and pay the supervisory levy each year.
Depending on your balance and what happens with your SMSF during the year, you may also have transfer balance account reporting requirements.
SMSFs can lodge their SMSF annual return via software that meets the DSP Operational Security Framework (OSF) security requirements or by paper with the ATO.
To do that, the SMSF will need:
- A machine credential (apply for a machine credential here)
- Access to software that meets the DSP OSF security requirements.
As mentioned earlier, one thing you won’t be able to do yourself is audit your SMSF. Even if you are an auditor your SMSF must be independently audited by a third party every year.
Your auditor must be registered with ASIC as an approved SMSF auditor. Check their database of auditors here.
Dealing with ASIC
If you have a corporate trustee structure for your SMSF you will need to pay ASIC fees each year and notify ASIC of any changes to the trustee company. Directors can do this via ASIC’s company officeholders’ portal.
SMSF software
There is a vast range of SMSF software products available for trustees to help manage and administer their fund. However, if you want to pass information directly to the ATO and ASIC, you need to use software that meets the DSP OSF security requirements.
The table below shows the four platforms with cloud software the ATO explicitly labels as having SMSF annual return (SMSFAR) reporting functionality and which meet the DSP OSF security requirements.
| Product name | Website | Company name |
|---|---|---|
| Simple Fund 360 | bglcorp.com | BGL Corporate Solutions |
| Class Application | class.com.au | Class Technology Pty Ltd |
| IDS Super | idssuper.com.au | IDS Super Pty Ltd |
| SuperMate | superconcepts.com.au | SuperConcepts Software Services |
The ATO also has a register of more than 400 products that meet the DSP OSF requirements here.
Key dates
1. ATO annual return and supervisory levy
If you lodge your SMSF annual return yourself, the due date is generally 28 February the following financial year. If you did not lodge your return for the previous financial year on time, the due date will be 31 October. For your first year, the due date is also 31 October.
2. Corporate trustees
ASIC will send you an annual statement for your registration fees shortly after your annual review date, which is the anniversary of the day you registered the corporate trustee.
The fee must be paid by the due date or there will be a late payment fee.
- Payment up to one month late – $96
- Payment more than one month late – $401
3. Transfer balance account reporting (TBAR)
SMSFs paying a pension are also required to report transfer balance events. The main kind of transfer balance event will be the details of new retirement phase or death benefit income streams.
Since 1 July 2023, all SMSFs are required to report a transfer balance event within 28 days of the end of the quarter the event occurred.
The bottom line
It is entirely possible to do most of the accounting tasks for your SMSF yourself but, if this is the path you want to go down, make sure you do it for the right reasons.
You need a very good understanding of accounting requirements and regulations and time to do the job well. If you get fined for a mistake, it could end up costing you more than the fee of a good SMSF accountant.
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