Questions & Answers – Transfer Balance Account Report (TBAR)

From 01 July 2017, the Government introduced a lifetime limit on the total amount of superannuation benefits that you can transfer into a tax-free Retirement Phase Pension Income Stream. This limit is known as the Transfer Balance Cap (TBC).

The following table sets out the General Transfer Balance Cap (TBC) since its introduction on 1 July 2017:

For more information on the Transfer Balance Cap, please click here.

Due to the Transfer Balance Cap measure, the ATO requires SMSF Trustees to report certain transactions so as to record and track the movements in the member's Transfer Balance Account and apply provisions should the member breach the Transfer Balance Cap (TBC). This event-based reporting framework is called the Transfer Balance Account Report (TBAR). It is a separate form from the SMSF Annual Return.

When the general Transfer Balance Cap is indexed and you have not previously met or exceeded your cap, your personal Transfer Balance Cap will be subject to proportional indexation. Your entitlement to indexation will be determined by the proportionate method which measures the percentage of unused cap in your Transfer Balance Account. This means that there won't be a single cap that applies to all individuals. Every individual will have their own Personal Transfer Balance Cap, depending on their circumstances.

The ATO will calculate your entitlement to indexation and your Personal Transfer Balance Cap after indexation. You can view your Personal Transfer Balance Cap using the ATO online services through myGov. Alternatively you may contact the ATO on 13 10 20 directly to obtain this information.

If your SMSF has a member who is accessing a Retirement Phase Pension Income Stream, you will be required to comply with the Transfer Balance Account Report (TBAR) framework.

The following types of Pension Income Streams are considered as Retirement Phase Pension Income Streams:

• Simple Account Based Pension (SABP), including Death Benefit Pensions;
• Capped Defined Benefit Income Streams;
• Transition to Retirement Income Stream / Pension (TRIS) AND the member has reached 65 years old or declared retirement with ESUPERFUND or has a permanent incapacity or terminal illness.

Accumulation, and Transition to Retirement Income Stream / Pension (TRIS) where the member is under 65 and still working are NOT in the Retirement Phase and therefore are not required to comply with the Transfer Balance Account Report (TBAR) Framework.

Yes. We are pleased to advise that ESUPERFUND attends to the preparation and submission of the TBAR on your behalf at no additional cost.

No. ESUPERFUND only attends to TBAR for Retirement Phase Income Streams established by us. If you have a Pension with another Superfund, please contact them directly.

Until 1 July 2023, the TBAR reporting frequency and deadlines were determined by the Total Superannuation Balances (TSB) of each member. Certain SMSFs were required to report TBAR on a quarterly basis.

Starting 1 July 2023, ALL SMSFs are now obligated to report most events that impact a member's transfer balance within 28 days after the end of the quarter in which the event occurs. This requirement applies regardless of the TSB.

Reportable TBAR Events

Here are some common events that typically need to be reported under the TBAR Framework, along with whether additional information is required from you:

For more information on the Reportable Events and Reporting Due Date, please click here.

Non-Reportable TBAR Events

Here are some common events that are typically not reportable under the TBAR Framework:

In order to provide the information, please click here to visit the Client Portal – TBAR page. On that page, you can view the TBAR events that are already known to ESUPERFUND.

If there are additional reportable events (i.e. lump sum withdrawals made from your Retirement Phase Pension), please refer to the following table for the Actions Required:

To add a transaction withdrawn from a manual bank account (i.e. account where we do not receive data automatically) via the Interim Checklist, please follow these steps:

• Step 1: Log in to the ESUPERFUND Client Portal, and then navigate to the "Checklist". Access the Interim Checklist for the current Financial Year by clicking on "View Checklist" and proceed to the "Bank" tab.
• Step 2: If necessary, click on the "Add Bank Account" button to create a new bank account first.
• Step 3: Click "View" next to the relevant bank account to access the transaction coding screen for the current Financial Year.
• Step 4: You can either add transactions individually or import them in bulk.
• Step 5: Code the transaction as "Pension & Withdrawal." In the pop-up window, choose "Lump Sum" as the "Withdrawal type," and select a specific Pension Account from the "Member Account" dropdown menu. Finally, click "Submit" to save the changes.

Once the transaction has been fully entered and appears in green (indicating completion), it will automatically be mirrored to the Client Portal – TBAR page.

If the event has been reported to the ATO, please contact our office via the Client Portal Inbox.

However, if the event is pending review by ESUPERFUND, the necessary actions may vary depending on when it occurred:

• If it occurred in a prior Financial Year, please contact ESUPERFUND via the Client Portal Inbox. We will need to assess the required changes and determine if they might impact the Superfund's tax return for that prior year.
• If it occurred in the current Financial Year, you may edit and submit the transaction coding in the Interim Checklist – Bank section directly. Any changes submitted in the Interim Checklist will be reflected on the TBAR page simultaneously.

It's important to note that only transactions coded in the Interim Checklist of the current Financial Year are automatically replicated on the Client Portal – TBAR page in real time. Transactions coded in the Prior Year Checklist are typically reviewed once annually.

For any reportable transactions that may have been missed in a Prior Year, please simply click on the “Add TBAR events” button to provide the information on the Client Portal – TBAR page directly.

We advise that lump sum withdrawals cannot be used to meet the minimum pension requirement of your Pension.

If you intend to withdraw only the minimum pension amount during the Financial Year, the amount withdrawn must be treated as a pension withdrawal. Pension withdrawals are not required to be reported under TBAR.

If your withdrawals exceed the minimum pension amount during the Financial Year, you may treat the excess as either pension withdrawals or lump sum withdrawals. The differences between these two withdrawal types are explained on our website here. Lump sum withdrawals made from a Retirement Phase Pension are required to be reported under TBAR.

If you have no reportable events (e.g. there are no lump sum withdrawals / rollovers to another Superfund and you have never exceeded the Transfer Balance Cap), then you can simply disregard the reminder. You do not need to notify ESUPERFUND / the ATO if there are no events to report.

If you have already reported any events to the ATO by yourself, please contact ESUPERFUND via the Client Portal Inbox immediately and advise the value you reported. We will then contact the ATO to cancel the event reported by ESUPERFUND to avoid double reporting.

Please allow for at least 28 business days for the ATO to update the information in their system. After this period, you can view your Transfer Balance Account Balance using the ATO online services through myGov or contact the ATO on 13 10 20 directly.