Legislation and Rules - SMSF superfund

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Legislation and Rules

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is the principal regulator of self managed super funds (SMSFs). The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) and Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) also have a regulatory role.

SMSFs, like any other regulated superannuation fund, are subject to numerous legislative instruments, the most relevant being:

SMSF RULES:

Annual SMSF requirements

Each year, the trustees of an SMSF must:

prepare financial statements
prepare an annual return and ensure it is lodged with the ATO by the due date
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.

Penalties apply for failing to meet these annual requirements.

SMSF record keeping

SMSF 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.

SMSF trustees must keep the following records for 10 years: