Do you need to lodge a transfer balance account report?

Self-managed super funds (SMSF) may be required to lodge a transfer balance account (TBA) report by 28 July 2020 in the case of a TBA event.

A TBA report will need to be lodged with the ATO in the event that both of the following apply:

• A TBA event occurred in a member’s SMSF between 1 April and 30 June 2020,
• Any member of the SMSF has a total super balance greater than $1 million.

SMSFs will also need to complete this report when a member needs to correct information about a TBA event that they have previously reported to the ATO or are responding to a commutation authority.

According to the ATO, an event is classified as a TBA event if they result in credit or debit in a member’s transfer balance account. Such events include:

• Super income streams in existence just before 1 July 2017 that both continue to be paid on or after 1 July 2017, or were in retirement phase on or after 1 July 2017,
• Super income streams that stop being in retirement phase,
• Limited recourse borrowing arrangements (LRBA) payments entered into on or after 1 July 2017,
• LRBA payments resulting in an increase in the value of the member’s superannuation interest supporting their retirement phase income stream,
• Personal injury (structured settlement) contributions that occurred post 1 July 2017,
• Voluntary member commutations.

There are a number of ways you can lodge your TBA report with the ATO:

• Lodge online by completing an interactive online form in the Business Portal
• Lodge online by completing an interactive online form with a tax agent and filing through online services
• Lodge a paper report (you can report up to four events for the same member on a paper report)
• Use bulk data exchange (BDE) to submit through file transfer facilities. You will generally need support from a software provider to meet BDE specifications.