TBAR form - rebooted

The ATO has reissued the transfer balance account report (TBAR) form to make it more user friendly.

The rebooted form permits up to four TBAR events to be reported.  A TBAR event is an event which generates either a transfer balance credit or debit to arise.  Probably the most common examples of TBAR events are pension commencement (TBAR credit) and pension commutation (TBAR debit).   All the reported events must be in relation to the same member and must occur in relation to the same superannuation fund.  However, the events could occur at different times.

The revised form should make life easier for superannuation funds (that is SMSFs) which are providing paper reports of TBAR events.  Previously, each TBAR event had to be separately reported.

Using the new TBAR form, a simple refresh of an account-based pension can be reported using one form.  Using the old form would require three separate forms: one form to report the commencement of the pension or its balance at 30 June 2017 (TBAR credit), another form to report the commutation of the pension (TBAR debit) and a third form to report the commencement of the pension with an augmented account balance (TBAR credit). Now all three events can be reported on the one form.

The new form has an ATO identifier of NAT 74923 and is dated November 2017.