Super Fund Lookup – what is it and what information does it provide?

The Super Fund Lookup (superfundlookup.gov.au) is a public accessible website maintained by the ATO listing very basic information about regulated superannuation funds – both APRA regulated funds such as industry funds and retail funds – as well as self-managed superannuation funds. However, this article will deal with self-managed superannuation funds.

For self-managed superannuation funds – the listed information is the name of the fund, the Australian Business Number (ABN) of the fund, the location of the fund (by reference to the postcode of the business address of the SMSF), contact details of the fund, the compliance status of the SMSF and its previous names.

Importantly, no details are publicly available as to the name or names of the trustee or trustees. Similarly, no publicly available information is given as to the names of the member or members of the fund or any financial information relating to the fund or the members.

For APRA regulated superannuation funds (such as industry funds, retail funds and employer funds) additional information is provided as to the names of superannuation products issued by the Superannuation Fund and their Unique Superannuation Identifiers (USI). USI is a unique identifier for each superannuation product issued by the Superannuation Fund (a unique identifier is required because there are so many superannuation products and so many have very similar names.)

The website is intended to be a means by which third parties can check the compliance status of self-managed superannuation funds. The compliance status is relevant for APRA regulated funds to determine whether a requested (benefit) rollover or transfer to an SMSF can be made (a precondition for rollovers or transfers is that the receiving fund is a complying superannuation fund). It can also be used by employers to determine whether contributions they pay to the fund will qualify as super guarantee payments.

The ATO uses five terms to describe the compliance status of SMSFs – being:

• Registered.
• Complying.
• Non-complying.
• Regulations details withheld.
• Regulation details removed.

Registered Status

A “Registered” status simply means that the trustee of the self-managed superannuation fund has made an election (which election is irrevocable) to be regulated under the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993.

This means that the self-managed superannuation fund is regulated by the ATO; the fund is eligible to receive rollovers, transfers and contributions and the fund has not been issued with a notice of compliance or a notice of non-compliance.

Third parties – such as unrelated employers of members of the fund or other funds are highly unlikely to deal with the fund unless and until its compliance status is “Complying”.

Complying status

A “Complying” status means that the self-managed superannuation fund is both registered and has been issued with a notice of compliance. This means that the fund is now eligible to be concessionally taxed at 15%.

Additionally, employer contributions made to complying funds can qualify as Super Guarantee payments.

Previously (before March 2019), the ATO practice (which strictly followed the original design of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993. was only to issue a notice of compliance if and when the first annual return for the fund had been lodged and assessed. In practice this mean that a self-managed superannuation fund may not receive a notice of compliance until five or more months after the close of the income year in which the election to be regulated was made. The ATO adopted in March 2019 a different and better practice in which the notice of compliance will be issued shortly after the election to be regulated has been made and the ATO has undertaken a preliminary review of the bona fides of the individuals associated with the fund.

Non-complying status

A fund will have “Non-complying” status in two situations. The first is where the self-managed superannuation fund has ceased to be an Australian resident fund. The second is where the ATO has issued a notice of non-compliance (or, alternatively, revoked the previously issued notice of compliance).

This is a disastrous status for a self-managed superannuation fund. The investment income and assessable contributions will be taxed at 45% rather than 15%. Further, the self-managed superannuation fund will not be entitled to 1/3rd discount on capital gains arising from the disposal of assets held for 12 months or more. And finally, the capital value of the fund (less undeducted contributions) immediately before the income year in which the fund became non-complying will be taxed at 45%. Contributions (whether employer or personal) to non-complying funds are not tax deductible and employer contributions do not qualify as Super Guarantee payments.

Regulation details withheld status

A self-managed superannuation fund which has this status is still a complying fund. However, third parties (typically other superannuation funds and unrelated employers) will be reluctant to, if not refuse, to make rollovers/transfers to or contributions to the fund.

Typically, if the ATO is conducting a review of or investigation into the operation of a self-managed superannuation fund, the ATO will change the status of the fund to “Regulation Details Withheld”.

This status may be a precursor to an issue of a notice of non-compliance.

Regulation Details Removed status

A self-managed superannuation fund will have this status if the annual returns for the fund have not been lodged within 2 weeks of the due date. The annual return for a self-managed superannuation is both a tax return and also a regulatory return of the fund.

Once the overdue annual return has been lodged, the entry in the SuperFundLookup is usually updated the first business day on the first or the 15th of the month.

SMSFs without ABNs

Self-managed superannuation funds established before the introduction of GST (1 July 2000), may not have an ABN. Funds established after that date must have an ABN but funds established before that date could, but were not required, to apply for an ABN.

Funds which do not have an ABN will not appear on SuperFundLookup website.