There are few things you need to complete before winding up a self-managed super fund (SMSF) and finalising your reporting obligations.
Complete your final SMSF return
You need to have an audit completed by an approved SMSF auditor before you can lodge your final SMSF annual return.
You need to lodge your SMSF annual return and complete Question 9 Was the fund wound up during the income year? in Section A.
You should also complete question M Supervisory levy adjustment for wound up funds in Section D. This reduces the SMSF supervisory levy that you must pay so that you do not pay the levy for the following year. You must also pay any outstanding tax liabilities and lodge any outstanding returns.
By lodging your final annual return, you have informed us that you are winding up your SMSF. You do not need to write to us to advise us of this.
If you don't wind up your fund correctly you may be selected for compliance activities and subject to penalties.
Complete your transfer balance account reporting
If one or more of your members are in retirement phase you will need to consider if you have any transfer balance account reporting obligations when winding up your fund.
All SMSFs must report events that affect their member's transfer balance account. Your member's account is debited when they fully or partially commute a retirement phase income stream. This lump sum can be paid out of the super system, or it can be transferred to another fund.
Where your member is rolling over their income stream to another fund, we strongly encourage you to report this commutation to us as early as possible.
For example, if an SMSF member rolls their super benefit into an APRA-regulated fund and starts an income stream there – and it is not reported to us by the SMSF at the time it happens – a double-counting of the member’s income streams will occur. This is because there will be a mismatch in timing of the reporting done by the APRA-regulated fund and the SMSF. In this instance, an SMSF is encouraged to report the commutation as it occurs, or no later than at the time of the rollover.
To find out more, visit Event-based reporting for SMSFs.
Confirmation your fund has been wound up
To confirm that you have met all of your reporting and tax responsibilities, we'll send you a letter stating that we have:
- cancelled your SMSF’s ABN
- closed your SMSF’s record on our systems.
Do not close your bank accounts until all expected final liabilities have been settled and requested refunds are received. Tax liabilities can be paid when you lodge the final SMSF annual return.
When winding up a self-managed super fund (SMSF), arrange a final audit and complete a transfer balance account report.