Before you submit the wind-up application to ESUPERFUND, please ensure you have completed the following steps as detailed on the Wind Up Overview page - Section 1: Prepare for Wind-up here.
- Step 1: Convert all the SMSF assets to cash
- Step 2: Cancel insurance policy held by the SMSF if applicable
- Step 3: Redirect employer contributions to another Superfund if applicable
- Step 4: Finalise Annual Compliance Requirements for the prior Financial Year if applicable
Additional Steps to be completed before you submit a wind-up application to ESUEPRFUND:
• Make enough pension withdrawals from the SMSF bank account if applicable
If at least one Member has commenced a Pension (i.e. Simple Account Based Pension / Transition to Retirement Pension) within the SMSF, the Member(s) must make enough withdrawals in cash to meet the minimum pension payment requirement for the current Financial Year before rolling out any remaining Super Benefits to another Superfund.
Please note that the minimum pension payment required to be withdrawn by you for the current Financial Year can only be advised after the prior Financial Year's Tax Return has been completed and it will be indicated on the Client Portal - Member Accounts - Pensions - Pension Summary page.
If all Members only have Accumulation Accounts, you may skip this step.
• Provide data and transaction details for the current Financial Year via the Interim Checklist
You are required to import the transactions data for manual bank account(s) (incl. CBA Accelerator) / broker account(s) in the required format for the current Financial Year via the Interim Checklist and provide the transaction details by coding all transactions from 01 July of the current Financial Year till present. The Interim Checklist is located on the Client Portal - Checklist page.
Submit a wind-up application to ESUPERFUND
Once you have completed all steps detailed above, please notify ESUPERFUND of your decision to wind up your SMSF via the Client Portal Inbox. Please select “My SMSF Details (Including Fees)” and then “Wind Up & Rollout” when you create a new query.
To allow ESUPERFUND sufficient time for processing, it is highly recommended that you plan ahead and submit applications before 31 May of the Financial Year. Applications submitted after 01 June might not be accepted.
You will need to provide ALL the following information at the same time:
1. Confirm your decision to wind up the SMSF on the Trustee Minutes.
All Trustees are required to sign the Minutes to evidence that all parties have agreed on the wind-up decision and the distribution method of Super Benefits. If you are the sole Director of your SMSF, then a Trustee Minutes is not necessary.
To download the sample Trustee Minutes, please click here.
2. Specify the Financial Year that you wish to wind up the SMSF.
You will need to ensure that by 30 June of the chosen Financial Year, your SMSF will have no assets left. Accordingly, if your SMSF still held some assets on 30 June, you can only wind up the SMSF in the following Financial Year.
3. Specify how each Member's Super Benefits are to be paid out of the SMSF (i.e. roll out to another complying Superfund / withdraw to a personal bank account).
For all Members who choose to roll over Super Benefits to another complying Superfund, please provide the following Receiving Fund details to ESUPERFUND:
- APRA Fund: Fund Name, Address, ABN, Unique Superannuation Identifier (USI) & Member Client Identifier.
- SMSF: Electronic service address (ESA), SMSF Bank BSB and Account Numbers. Please ensure that your Receiving SMSF can be verified via the SMSF Verification Service (SVS). For more information about the SVS, please click here.
4. Provide manual bank / broker account(s) details if applicable.
Account statements detailing the transaction details for your Fund's manual bank account(s) (incl. CBA Accelerator) / broker account(s) from 01 July of the current Financial Year till present / account closure date need to be provided to ESUPERFUND.
If all the SMSF bank / broker accounts are set up by ESUPERFUND and we receive the data automatically, you may skip this requirement.
IMPORTANT NOTE: You are required to complete all the above steps and provide all the requested information at the same time in your first message to ESUPERFUND via the Client Portal Inbox. Failure to do so will increase the processing time of your wind-up application.
ESUPERFUND processes the wind-up application and notifies Trustees of Actions Required
Once the wind-up application is confirmed and processed by ESUPERFUND, we will send you instructions to distribute funds in the SMSF bank account via the Client Portal Inbox.
The time frame for processing the application and estimating your residual Super Benefits available to be rolled out / withdrawn is usually within 3 business days upon the receipt of ALL the requested information.
If you fail to roll out / withdraw all the SMSF Members' Super Benefits by 30 June of the Financial Year that you would like to wind up the SMSF, your Fund's wind-up application might be cancelled and you will have to lodge a normal Tax Return with the ATO.
1. Pay estimated Income Tax Liability for the current Financial Year (if applicable)
Once all the actions detailed above are completed, ESUPERFUND will proceed to estimate the Income Tax Liability for your SMSF's final Tax Return and instruct you to pay the estimated Tax Liability (if any) to the ATO in advance.
However please be aware that the Income Tax amount is estimated based on the information you provided, and it is subject to adjustment after the final Tax Return is completed.
2. Withdraw available Super Benefits to a personal bank account (if applicable)
If any Member(s) meet the condition of release and choose to withdraw the Super Benefits, ESUPERFUND will advise you of the available balance based on our calculation via Client Portal Inbox. Please transfer the advised amount to your personal bank account prior to 30 June by yourself.
3. Roll out available Super Benefits to another Superfund by Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT)
ESUPERFUND will estimate your taxation and preservation components and then instruct you to transfer the available Super Benefits to the next Superfund via EFT. The advised amount for each Member is after deducting the required Fees, your pension / lump sum withdrawals (if applicable) and the estimated Income Tax Liability (if any).
Please note that from 1 October 2021, you will need to use SuperStream to rollover any money from your SMSF to another complying Superfund. We obtained the bank account information of your Receiving Fund from the ATO electronically via the ATO's approved SuperStream Channel according to the Unique Superannuation Identifier (USI) provided by you to our office.
IMPORTANT NOTE: You cannot transfer funds until our office has calculated your taxation and preservation components and instructed you to make the personal withdrawals (if applicable) or transfer the Super Benefits to the next Superfund.
Trustees arrange the transfer of Super Benefits to the next Superfund via Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) prior to 30 June
As the Trustee, you will need to follow the instructions given by ESUPREFUND to arrange the transfer of your Super Benefits from the SMSF bank account to the next Superfund via EFT and the transfer must occur prior to 30 June.
Please note that ESUPERFUND does not have transaction authority to your SMSF bank account and therefore we are unable to make the transfer on your behalf.
Please take note of the following information when actioning the EFT:
1. You must transfer the exact amount in one single transaction. If the amount exceeds the daily transfer limit of the SMSF bank, you may:
- Contact the SMSF bank directly to increase the daily transfer limit; OR
- Use the EFT Withdrawal option that has no transfer limits allowing you to transfer SMSF monies as required and for larger amounts; OR
- Attend a branch office in person and present your valid ID to enable the transfer. If the SMSF bank account has been set up that requires more than 1 person to sign, then all account holders will need to present with their valid IDs.
2. You must quote the Payment Reference Number (PRN) as advised by ESUPERFUND in the inbox message at both the "Description" and "Reference" fields so the full PRN appears on both the SMSF's bank statement and the recipient's bank statement.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If the amount transferred was different from the amount advised by ESUPERFUND and / or the PRN was not quoted, neither ESUPERFUND nor the Receiving Fund would be able to process the Rollover-out SuperStream message and the Rollover-out process may fail. The worst consequences would be that the Receiving Fund has to reject any funds transferred and return them to the SMSF bank account.
ESUPERFUND matches the roll-out transaction
If the amount is paid from the SMSF bank account established by ESUPERFUND within the required time frame, we will be able to track this transaction and automatically match this transaction with the corresponding Rollover-out SuperStream message.
If the amount is paid from a manual bank account (incl. CBA Accelerator), you are required to add this roll-out transaction via the Interim Checklist - Bank page and enter the Payment Reference Number (PRN) at the narration field. The Interim Checklist is located on the Client Portal - Checklist page. This will enable ESUPERFUND to match the transaction with the Rollover-out SuperStream message.
ESUPERFUND notifies the Receiving Fund via the SuperStream Channel
Once your Super Benefits have been transferred out and the bank transaction is matched with the Rollover-out SuperStream message, we will notify the Receiving Fund of the payment electronically via the SuperStream Channel.
Receiving Fund acknowledges the receipt of the Rollover-out information via the SuperStream Channel
Once the Rollover-out Superstream message is sent, it is the Receiving Fund's turn to verify the message and acknowledge the receipt from their end. Once acknowledgement is received electronically from the Receiving Fund, we will notify you via Client Portal Inbox. This will conclude the roll-out process.
IMPORTANT NOTE: You must keep the SMSF bank account open even if all Super Benefits have been rolled out / withdrawn.
For the remaining wind-up steps, please click here to return to the Wind Up Overview page.