Your SMSF must attend to certain annual reporting requirements each and every year. These include:
The above annual compliance requirements are the compliance requirements that an SMSF must attend to annually. Importantly ESUPERFUND attends to the above annual compliance requirements for your SMSF. You do not need to arrange for another accountant to prepare the above annual documentation as they are completed by ESUPERFUND. Similarly, the above documentation is covered by our annual fee. The process to prepare the annual compliance documentation for your SMSF is detailed as follows:
2023 Annual Compliance Process:
Step 1: Annual Checklist released in your Client Portal
In order for us to attend to the above reporting requirements for the 2023 Financial Year for your SMSF, you will be required to complete the 2023 Annual Checklist. The Checklist details information we hold for your SMSF and requests additional information we require from you.
Step 2: Complete Part 1 - Data Collection
The Annual Checklist is split into 2 parts. The first part is “Data Collection” and the "Data Collection" Tab asks you a series of questions about the Investments made by your SMSF during the Financial Year. Based on your answers the system will determine what additional data is required by ESUPERFUND.
If we received the data electronically for the SMSF Bank and Broker accounts, no information is required from you.
If your SMSF holds other Bank and Broker accounts where we do not receive data automatically, additional data is required from you. The system will prompt you to provide the data and once provided the data will need to be reviewed by ESUPERFUND (see Step 3 below).
Step 3: ESUPERFUND reviews the Data Collection
If your SMSF holds other Bank and Broker accounts where we do not receive data automatically, the data provided by you via the Data Collection will need to be reviewed by our office before you can proceed to the next part of the Checklist.
If you have authorised ESUPERFUND to receive Trading Data on some brokers (e.g. CommSec Options), we can only complete the Data Review Process after the broker finalises your linkage authority request and sends us the electronic data for the newly linked broker.
Once the account has been linked to ESUPERFUND or where there is no linkage authority request, it will take around 5 to 7 business days to complete the Data Review Process. The actual time may vary depending on the number of transactions and trades we need to verify.
- If your Superfund only invests in few bank/broker accounts with a low volume of data, we will endeavour to complete the review within 5 business days.
- If your Superfund invests in multiple bank/broker accounts with a high volume of data, the review time may exceed 7 business days.
As soon as we have completed the Data Review Process, we will contact you via the Client Portal Inbox.
Step 4: Complete Part 2 - Remaining Checklist
Part 2 of the Checklist will request you to code items and provide supporting documents relating to the data from Part 1. Further documents required for audit purposes such as Contribution related documents, invoices and Annual Minutes are also collected in part 2 of the Checklist.
Step 5: ESUPERFUND completes the Annual Compliance Documentation
ESUPERFUND completes the Annual Compliance Documentation in the order in which the Online Checklist is submitted by clients. Accordingly, we encourage you to submit the Online Checklist at your earliest convenience to ensure the timely completion of the Annual Compliance Documentation.
Step 6: ESUPERFUND may request further information from you
Should we require further information to finalise the Annual Compliance Documentation, you will be contacted via the Client Portal Inbox and the information we require will be detailed on the "Action Required" tab of the Checklist.
Step 7: ESUPERFUND finalises the Annual Compliance Documentation
After we have finalised the Annual Compliance Documentation for your SMSF, you will be notified via the Client Portal to review the Compliance Documentation. Once you are satisfied that the documentation is correct, you simply have to sign the lodgement declaration to enable us to proceed with the lodgement of the Income Tax Return with the ATO.
Step 8: Tax Liability Paid by you (or Tax Refund Issued)
The Annual Compliance Documentation will indicate the Tax Liability/Refundable amount.
If the Annual Return results in a Tax Liability, ESUPERFUND will provide you with the relevant BPAY details, the Tax Liability due and payable and the due date. You will need to pay the Tax Liability from your SMSF Bank Account before the specified due date. Please note that given ESUPERFUND does not have transaction access to your SMSF Bank Account, we are unable to make the payment on your behalf.
Alternatively where your SMSF is entitled to a Tax Refund the Refund will be banked into your SMSF Bank Account by the ATO generally within 28 business days after the lodgement of the Tax Return.
At this time the Annual Compliance Process will be completed.
What's New in the 2023 Annual Checklist?
We continue to improve the Online Checklist to provide you with a better user experience and to ensure that the Annual Compliance requirements are completed as efficiently as possible.
Please find below some of the major new features that have been integrated into the 2023 Annual Checklist:
1. “Download Sample Document” feature helps you to upload the correct document.
In Part 2 of the Checklist, we collect documents such as Contribution-related documents, invoices, and Annual Minutes for audit purposes. To assist you with the completion and submission of the correct documents, we have introduced the “Download Sample Document” feature in the 2023 Annual Checklist.
The “Download Sample Document” link is located next to the Document Type. If you are unsure of which document is required to be uploaded or you require a template of the document for completion (e.g., the Minutes of the meeting of Trustees), you may simply click on the “Download Sample Document” link to download the sample documents. You may then complete the sample documents and upload the completed document.
2. Rollovers/Contributions/ATO Payments processed via SuperStream are coded automatically.
ESUPERFUND is a registered Messaging Service Provider with the ATO for SuperStream, and we receive SuperStream data electronically. As a result, the following transaction types processed via SuperStream will be automatically coded in the Checklist, requiring no input from Trustees:
- Contributions made by your Employer and processed digitally via SuperStream.
- Cash Rollovers to/from the Superfund processed digitally via SuperStream.
- Payments to the ATO under a valid ATO Release Authority issued digitally via SuperStream.
Please note that if a transaction is not processed digitally via SuperStream, we will be unable to code the transaction due to the absence of relevant data.
3. Contribution/Withdrawal details are editable on the Contribution/Withdrawal Summary directly.
In previous versions of the Online Checklist, if you needed to edit the details of Member Contributions/Withdrawals (such as changing the Member or Contribution/Withdrawal type), you had to go back to the Coding step and modify the transaction accordingly. We understand the inconvenience of this process, and we have implemented some improvements in the 2023 Annual Checklist - Contribution/Withdrawal Summary.
If you need to modify the details of Member Contributions/Withdrawals, you can now directly edit the transaction on the Contribution/Withdrawal Summary without having to return to the previous Coding step.
However, if you need to change the nature of the Contributions/Withdrawals to a different transaction type, the system will still guide you back to the previous steps to collect the relevant information.
4. The Personal Payments and Non-Cash Transaction screens have been redesigned for a more user-friendly experience.
Taking user feedback into account, we have completely revamped the Add Transaction function on the Personal Payments and Non-Cash Transaction screens. The new design incorporates a user-friendly approach by presenting the information in a pop-up window. The questions have been meticulously crafted to ensure clarity, guiding you through the process and prompting you to provide all required information in a single interaction.