SMSF legislation and rules
SMSF Regulations
SMSFs are regulated by the ATO. There are several excellent ATO booklets explaining the SMSF rules and your responsibilities as a Trustee. To access the list of ATO publications for SMSFs, click here.
Legislation
SMSFs are subject to numerous legislative instruments, the most relevant are:
- Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (‘SISA’);
- Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulations 1994;
- Income Tax Assessment Act 1997, and
- Corporations Act 2001.
Current developments
It is now a requirement for the auditor to be separate from the accountant. We are an ASIC registered auditor and our auditor details as set out on the audit page.
Annual SMSF requirements
On an annual basis, Trustees of an SMSF must do the following:
- prepare financial statements
- prepare an annual return and ensure it is lodged with the ATO by the due date (usually 15 May for the previous year to 30 June)
- appoint an Approved Auditor to examine the SMSF’s financial statements and assess the compliance status of the SMSF at the end of each financial year, and
- pay the supervisory levy and the SMSF’s tax liability when due.
Record keeping
Trustees must keep the following records for at least 5 years:
- accounting records detailing the SMSF’s transactions and financial position
- annual operating statements and annual statement of the SMSF’s financial position
- copies of annual returns lodged, and
- copies of any other statements lodged with the ATO or provided to other super funds.
Trustees should keep the following records for 10 years:
- Minutes of all Trustee meetings
- change of Trustee records
- change of Director records, if the SMSF has a Corporate Trustee
- Trustee declarations, for Trustees appointed after 30 June 2007
- written consent by Members appointed as Trustees, and
- copies of Member Reports
Examples of these documents can be downloaded from our Free Downloads section.
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Hein Preller
Hein is a Director at Superannuation Warehouse, specialising in setting up new SMSF's. Hein's company performs all the annual administration tasks consisting of preparing financial statements, lodging a tax return and arranging the audit.