Reporting of Contributions to the ATO

SMSFs must report all contributions received in respect of members during the 2008/09 year in the SMSF 2009 Annual Return.  The Annual Return includes the fund’s regulatory return and income tax return and must be lodged when the fund’s income tax is due. 

If no contributions are made in respect of a member, the SMSF must still report that a zero amount of contributions have been made.

Care must be taken in reporting contributions.  A misreporting of a contribution – say, a CGT contribution as an ordinary non-concessional contribution – may give rise to the ATO issuing an Excess Contributions Assessment as the ATO will count the misreported contribution against the member’s ordinary non-concessional cap and not against his or her CGT contributions cap.

Similarly, personal injury contributions if misreported as either ordinary non-concessional contributions or as CGT contributions may cause the ATO to issue an Excess Contributions Assessment.