ATO getting serious with non-lodging SMSFs: SMSFs becoming non-persons for tax purposes

If an SMSF has two or more returns outstanding (ie not lodged rather than the epitome of a neat and complete return) the ATO will now treat the SMSF as a non-person by removing their entry from the Who’s Who of SMSFs: namely Super Fund Lookup.

This can have a serious impact on the social life of an SMSF – let alone the ability to receive contributions from employers, rollovers and transfers.  If the SMSF is trying to enter into a limited recourse borrowing arrangement – it will be an impossible dream to complete the transaction with such a black mark over the fund.

Strangely, there is very little legal redress available to the now “non-person” SMSF as the operation of the Super LookUp website is not a statutory function of the ATO – merely a public convenience which the ATO provides at its grace.  Rather than wasting time and money, treating the non-personage of the SMSF as an egregious and outrageous breach of natural justice an/or international human rights, contrary to whichever legal vibe is the appropriate vibe and challengeable under the Administrative Decisions (Judicial Review) Act 1977, it may be better to avoid the situation of two or more overdue returns by lodging the overdue returns with the greatest speed possible.