SMSF Wind Up

The Wind Up Process

As a rough guide the following steps should be undertaken as part of the process:

• Review your SMSF Deed and check for any specific requirements it includes as part of the wind up process.
• Organise a meeting of the trustees and document the decision to wind up the fund and the timeframe which you are working towards. You need to ensure this decision is signed off by all the trustees.
• Where possible dispose of all assets of the fund while meeting the requirements under the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993.
• Finalise the ATO lodgments of the fund including TBAR reporting and PAYG payment summaries for the members. You should pay all outstanding ATO liabilities along with other expenses of the fund so you are in a position to close the fund bank account.
• If applicable, ensure that all members’ employers have the details of the new super fund so no further contributions are made to the SMSF during the wind up process.
• Complete the rollover of any remaining funds using SuperStream or alternatively look at a lump sum pension payment as appropriate.
• Organise the shutdown of the Corporate Trustee company paying the ASIC shutdown fees and lodging the appropriate paperwork to finalise the company deregistration.
• Once you have completed the wind up of the SMSF it cannot be reactivated and if you choose to renter the SMSF sphere again in the future you will need to proceed with a brand new SMSF Setup from scratch.

Keep in mind this is only a high level overview and depending on your specific situation there may be other steps involved in the shutdown of your SMSF.