What Does an SMSF Accountant Do?

Have you ever wondered what an SMSF accountant does?

They handle all the accounting, administrative and financial reporting tasks required to keep your self-managed super fund (SMSF) compliant with government regulations.

Key Services Provided by SMSF Accountants

What does an SMSF accountant do to ensure your fund runs smoothly? Here’s a detailed look at their main services:

• Daily Management: They use cloud-based accounting platforms to manage your fund’s accounting finances, ensuring accuracy and compliance.
• Tax Handling: They prepare and submit annual tax returns and manage all necessary tax documents for your fund.
• Record Keeping: They maintain meticulous records of your fund’s accounts, investments, and pensions, which is crucial for audits and compliance.
• Compliance Documents: They keep record all necessary compliance documents, ensuring your fund adheres to legal standards.
• Annual Audits: They coordinate an external audit each year, a mandatory requirement to verify the fund’s compliance with financial regulations.

Dealing with Complex SMSF Accounting Issues

Managing an SMSF can sometimes become complex. What does an SMSF accountant do in such situations? They tackle these complexities head-on:

• Legal Guidance: Although, it is not a part of an SMSF accountant’s job description, if need be, they collaborate with SMSF lawyers to ensure your fund’s deed is up-to-date and compliant with current laws.
• Fund Updates: They handle updates related to the fund’s trustees and membership details, ensuring all information is current and update with ATO and ABR.
• Borrowing Arrangements Accounting: They assist with (in case there is a need) limited recourse borrowing arrangements, which can be tricky without expert help.

When unexpected issues arise, your SMSF accountant is equipped to manage them efficiently, preventing potential law or tax penalties.

Annual Tax Returns

What does an SMSF accountant do come tax time? Each year, they ensure that your SMSF complies with tax filing requirements:

• Data Collection: They collect and review financial data from the past year to ensure accuracy.
• Document Verification: They confirm that all required documents are complete and ready for submission.
• Audit Scheduling: They manage the timing of the annual audit to ensure it aligns with tax submission deadlines.

The ATO mandates that SMSFs submit various reports and documents to prove compliance:

• Superannuation tax return (SMSF ITR): once the fund is established this is required to be lodged every year by the due date and pay required taxes and report funds compliance with superannuation laws to ATO.
• PAYG (Pay As You Go withholding): This system enables funds to fulfill their income tax duties on payments made. Fund pays required PAYG as advised by the tax office on quarterly or yearly bases and get credits of the paid amount when preparation the annual return.
• BAS (Business Activity Statement): This report covers the payment or refund of GST if fund is registered for GST, pay PAYG.
• TBAR (Transfer Balance Account Report): This report helps the ATO monitor and manage the transfer balance caps, which restrict the capital that individuals can move to their retirement phase pensions. Keeping TBAR up to date is essential to stay compliant with ATO-set limits and avoid extra taxes or penalties.

Important Deadlines

To avoid penalties, it’s crucial to meet these tax return deadlines (with tax agent):

• 28th February of next year: For new SMSFs in their first year.
• 15th May: For all established funds.

These deadlines help ensure that your fund remains in good standing and avoids late fees.

ESA

We offer an Electronic Service Address (ESA) to all our clients, which is essential for tracking and receiving super contributions, rollovers and others as required by the ATO. This ESA ensures that your SMSF can seamlessly receive contributions and manage rollovers. Providing this service helps simplify your fund management and keeps your SMSF compliant with regulatory requirements.

Shutting Down a Fund

What does an SMSF accountant do if you decide to close your fund? They manage the entire wind-up process:

• Legal Review: Trustees review their fund’s deed to ensure all steps are legally sound.
• Trustee Coordination: They coordinate with all trustees to obtain necessary approvals and signatures.
• Financial Closure: They handle all financial and legal, tax requirements to formally close the fund with the preparation of final accounts and tax return.

Closing an SMSF is a definitive action. If you might want to manage a super fund in the future, you’ll have to start a new. Once the fund is closed it can’t be reactivated.

Final Thoughts

What does an SMSF accountant do? In summary, they play an essential role in managing the complexities of your self-managed super fund accounts and tax return. They ensure that your SMSF accounting task operates efficiently and complies with all legal requirements, providing peace of mind about your retirement savings.

Do you need specialized help from an SMSF accountant? We at Quick SMSF Accountants are ready to provide expert assistance with any aspect of managing your fund accounting, ensuring its accuracy and your peace of mind.