Your SMSF must attend to certain annual reporting requirements each and every year. These include:
The above annual compliance requirements are the compliance requirements that an SMSF must attend to annually. Importantly ESUPERFUND attends to the above annual compliance requirements for your SMSF. You do not need to arrange for another accountant to prepare the above annual documentation as they are completed by ESUPERFUND. Similarly, the above documentation is covered by our annual fee. The process to prepare the annual compliance documentation for your SMSF is detailed as follows:
2025 Annual Compliance Process:
Step 1: Annual Checklist released in your Client Portal
In order for us to attend to the above reporting requirements for the 2025 Financial Year for your SMSF, you will be required to complete the 2025 Annual Checklist. The Checklist details information we hold for your SMSF and requests additional information we require from you.
Step 2: Complete Part 1 - Data Collection
The Annual Checklist is split into 2 parts. The first part is “Data Collection” and the "Data Collection" Tab asks you a series of questions about the Investments made by your SMSF during the Financial Year. Based on your answers the system will determine what additional data is required by ESUPERFUND.
If we received the data electronically for the SMSF Bank and Broker accounts, no information is required from you.
If your SMSF holds other Bank and Broker accounts where we do not receive data automatically, additional data is required from you. The system will prompt you to provide the data and once provided the data will need to be reviewed by ESUPERFUND (see Step 3 below).
Step 3: ESUPERFUND reviews the Data Collection
If your SMSF holds other Bank and Broker accounts where we do not receive data automatically, the data provided by you via the Data Collection will need to be reviewed by our office before you can proceed to the next part of the Checklist.
If you have authorised ESUPERFUND to receive Trading Data on some broker accounts, we can only complete the Data Review Process after the broker finalises your linkage authority request and sends us the electronic data for the newly linked broker account.
Once the account has been linked to ESUPERFUND or where there is no linkage authority request, it will take around 5 to 7 business days to complete the Data Review Process. The actual time may vary depending on when the Data Collection part is submitted, the number of transactions and trades we need to verify.
- If your Superfund only invests in few bank/broker accounts with a low volume of data, we will endeavour to complete the review within 5 business days.
- If the Data Collection part is submitted during our peak season or if your Superfund invests in multiple bank/broker accounts with a high volume of data, the review time may exceed 7 business days.
As soon as we have completed the Data Review Process, we will contact you via the Client Portal Inbox.
Step 4: Complete Part 2 - Remaining Checklist
Part 2 of the Checklist will request you to code items and provide supporting documents relating to the data from Part 1. Further documents required for audit purposes such as Contribution related documents, invoices and Annual Minutes are also collected in part 2 of the Checklist.
Step 5: ESUPERFUND completes the Annual Compliance Documentation
ESUPERFUND completes the Annual Compliance Documentation in the order in which the Annual Checklist is submitted by clients Accordingly, we encourage you to submit the Annual Checklist at your earliest convenience to ensure the timely completion of the Annual Compliance Documentation.
Step 6: ESUPERFUND may request further information from you
Should we require further information to finalise the Annual Compliance Documentation, you will be contacted via the Client Portal Inbox and the information we require will be detailed on the "Action Required" tab of the Checklist.
Step 7: ESUPERFUND finalises the Annual Compliance Documentation
After we have finalised the Annual Compliance Documentation for your SMSF, you will be notified via the Client Portal to review the Compliance Documentation. Once you are satisfied that the documentation is correct, you simply have to sign the lodgement declaration to enable us to proceed with the lodgement of the Income Tax Return with the ATO.
Step 8: Tax Liability Paid by you (or Tax Refund Issued)
The Annual Compliance Documentation will indicate the Tax Liability/Refundable amount.
If the Annual Return results in a Tax Liability, ESUPERFUND will provide you with the relevant BPAY details, the Tax Liability due and payable and the due date. You will need to pay the Tax Liability from your SMSF Bank Account before the specified due date. Please note that given ESUPERFUND does not have transaction access to your SMSF Bank Account, we are unable to make the payment on your behalf.
Alternatively where your SMSF is entitled to a Tax Refund the Refund will be banked into your SMSF Bank Account by the ATO generally within 28 business days after the lodgement of the Tax Return.
At this time the Annual Compliance Process will be completed.
What's New in the 2025 Annual Checklist?
We continue to improve the Annual Checklist to provide you with a better user experience and to ensure that the Annual Compliance requirements are completed as efficiently as possible.
Please find below details of some of the 2025 Annual Checklist updates:
1. Redesigned the Action Required Page of the Checklist.
If further information is required from you to finalise the accounts, ESUPERFUND will notify you via the inbox. Details of the information or documents we require will be detailed on the “Action Required” page of the Checklist.
We have redesigned the page to make it easier for you to track and complete outstanding items. If a document or information request has been made multiple times, you will now see a “History” button next to it, allowing you to view the full history of that request and see what you have previously provided. In addition, we have simplified the layout and the system will display a single clearer status column so you can easily see exactly what action is required.
2. Easier Managed Funds Distribution Statements Submission
Managed fund providers may sometimes issue a single statement that summarises all distribution payments for the Financial Year. To streamline the process, you now only need to upload this document once. For all other distributions received from the same managed fund, you can simply select the previously submitted statement from a list of existing documents saved in the system. This improvement helps save time and avoids duplicate uploads.
3. Foreign Dividend Coding
If you hold international shares via brokers that are not linked to ESUPERFUND, we cannot receive data automatically. Therefore, the dividends will be required to be coded by you in the Annual Checklist.
In the 2025 Annual Checklist, we make coding of the dividends transactions easier by only displaying relevant fields, i.e. foreign dividends and withholding. We also prefill the foreign dividend amount based on the amount received.
4. International shares trades and settlement account transactions import
Additionally, for international shares broker accounts not linked to our office, the trades and transactions data is required to be manually added by you. In the 2025 Annual Checklist, we have made improvements to make it easier for you to provide complete and accurate data. If the broker only provides trades and settlement data in other currency (e.g. USD, JPY), the Checklist will now allow you to enter or import the data in that currency. The system will then automatically convert it to AUD for you, ensuring accuracy and saving time.