The ATO requires SMSF trustees to use the superannuation transfer balance account report (TBAR) to advise it when a transfer balance account event occurs. It uses this information to adjust a fund member’s transfer balance account so it can correctly apply the transfer balance cap provisions.

SMSF trustees are required to report the following events:

• super income streams in existence just before 1 July 2017
• any of the following events that occur on or after 1 July 2017
  • super income streams that have commenced in retirement phase
  • limited recourse borrowing arrangement payments
  • member commutations
  • compliance with a commutation authority issued by the Commissioner
  • personal injury (structured settlement) contributions
  • super income streams that stop being in the retirement phase, for example, because the trustee failed to meet the minimum pension payment standards for an income stream.

The ATO will now only require the member’s 30 June 2017 accumulation phase value (APV) to be reported on the fund’s transfer balance account report (TBAR) when the member is also in receipt of a capped defined benefit pension or a flexi pension from the fund.

While the TBAR for pre-existing pension phase pensions as at 30 June 2017 should have been lodged by 1 July 2018, the ATO will not be using the APV information to calculate a member’s total super balance until mid-September 2018.

This is the reason accumulation phase value (APV) reporting for 30 June 2017 is not due until 8 September 2018. So, for affected members, if their SMSF has already lodged a TBAR to report their pension value, they need to lodge a further TBAR (by 8 September 2018) to report their APV as at 30 June 2017.

The ATO has updated its website on APV reporting obligations to clarify that SMSFs will only be required to report accumulation phase values at Question 15 on the TBAR in certain specific scenarios for 30 June 2017.

These include having accumulation phase interests only at 30 June 2017, retirement phase interests only at 30 June 2017, the same as the last but with no flexi pensions or capped defined benefit income streams, or with at least one non-account based pension, both accumulation and retirement phase interests at 30 June 2017, with account-based pensions only and no flexi pensions, and with both phases and at least one account-based pension or flexi pension.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comment section. We will be happy to answer all your queries.