The ATO has called on self-managed funds to check whether they are meeting new pay-as-you-go (PAYG) withholding obligations for capped defined benefit income streams paid to their members.
SMSFs have PAYG obligations to withhold tax from income streams that have been paid to their members in circumstances where:
The member is 60 years or older.
The member is under 60 years and has a death benefit capped defined income stream (where the deceased was 60 years or over when they died).
If you have no tax that you need to withhold from a member’s super, then you are required to provide the individual with a pension payment summary and lodge a PAYG withholding summary with the ATO. This should be done by 14 August, following the end of the financial year that the payment was made.
Inactive low-balance accounts (ILBAs) are a new category account that needs to be reported and paid to the ATO. This was introduced in the Treasury Law Amendment (Protect Your Superannuation Package) Bill 2019 that came into effect on 1 July 2019 after first being announced in the 2018-19 Federal Budget.
ILBAs are designed to protect accounts from fee erosion. Where possible, the ATO will proactively consolidate super on behalf of an individual.
A superannuation account is considered an ILBA if the following criteria are met:
No amount has been received by the fund for crediting to that account for an individuals benefit within the last 16 months.
The account balance is less than $6,000.
A prescribed condition of release has not been met.
The account is not a defined benefit account.
There is no insurance on the account.
The account is not held in a self-managed super fund (SMSF) or small Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) fund.
Funds are required to identify ILBAs on 30 June and 31 December each year, then report and pay them to the ATO by the statement date.
31 October in the same year for accounts identified on 30 June.
30 April of the following year for accounts identified on 31 December.
Individuals that have an account that they do not want to be transferred to the ATO as an ILBA, can consolidate super accounts using ATO online services through myGov, contact their super fund for more information or authorise their super fund to provide a written declaration to the ATO.
