How much does SMSF Australia charge for annual SMSF accounting?

SMSF Australia offers three fixed-fee annual packages: Basic Fund at $1,300+GST (listed shares, managed funds, ETFs, term deposits), Complex Fund at $1,600+GST (adds direct property up to 2, cryptocurrency, precious metals), and Very Complex Fund from $2,000+GST (unlisted assets, private loans, derivatives, NFTs, 3+ properties). All packages include the independent SMSF audit at no additional cost.

Is the SMSF audit included in the annual fee?

Yes. The independent SMSF audit is included in all three annual fee packages — Basic, Complex, and Very Complex. It is not charged as a separate add-on.

Can SMSF Australia service my fund if I am not in the same state?

Yes. SMSF Australia operates nationally across all Australian states and territories. All client meetings and services are conducted via Zoom — there is no requirement to be near a physical office.

How much does it cost to set up an SMSF with SMSF Australia?

The SMSF setup fee is $2,000+GST, which covers corporate trustee establishment (ASIC fee $636), SMSF trust deed ($400), Class Super first-year licence ($250), ABN and TFN applications, investment strategy preparation, and rollover coordination.

Does SMSF Australia provide financial advice?

No. SMSF Australia does not provide financial planning or investment advice. Services are limited to SMSF accounting, tax, audit, compliance, and legal matters.

What is an SMSF Pension?

An SMSF pension is a pension or income stream which consist of periodic payments drawn from your pension account in your SMSF. This seems fairly obvious, but it is different to an Australian Age Pension, a Disability Support Pension or a, Service Pension which is paid from the government through Centrelink or the Australian Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA).

An SMSF pension is not paid from the Government but from your own super monies in your SMSF and is therefore subject to the laws and regulations of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 and the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulations 1994 collectively known as SISA as well as Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (Tax Act).

Being a member and a trustee, or a director of the trustee, you have full control over when and how a pension is paid subject to the fund’s trust deed and governing rules as well as SISA and the Tax Act.

There are some language differences between the Tax Act and SISA in relation to pensions. The Tax Act refers to “superannuation income stream” with each payment being a “superannuation income stream benefit”. SISA refers to a “pension”, and each payment is a “pension payment”.

Super income streams can include account-based pensions and capped defined benefit income streams the most common being market-linked pensions and lifetime pensions. Our discussion is limited to account-based pensions so please contact us if you want to know more about other types of SMSF pensions.

What affect does SISA have on an SMSF Pension?

An SMSF can provide a pension to a member if it meets the pension standards to qualify as an Account-Based Pension (ABP) under SIS reg 1.06(1), SIS reg 1.06(9A) and SIS Reg 1.07D.

The pension standards include:

the capital of the pension cannot be added to by way of contribution or rollover
pension payment must be made at least annually
the pension payment should be at least a minimum amount based on the pension account balance at the prior 30^th June or when the pension was first established if part way through a year and a percentage based on age of the member per SIS reg Schedule 7

Age of beneficiary	Percentage Factor
Under 65	4%
65-74	5%
75-79	6%
80-84	7%
85-89	9%
90-94	11%
95 or more	14%

Example – member aged 75 at 30^th June 2024 with a pension balance of $400,000 has to be paid a pension minimum of at least 6% x $400,000 = $24,000 in the 2024/25 financial year.

a pro-rated pension minimum payment is required if the pension is fully commuted BUT if only a partial commutation of the pension, then the full pension minimum is required
the capital value of the pension cannot be used as security for borrowing purposes
a pension is not transferable unless the member has died and the pension balance is transferred to an “entitled recipient” such as a spouse or a child under 18 – generally the pension cannot be transferred to an adult child but other persons (except the deceased’s children) who are financially dependent on the deceased or had an interdependency relationship with the member immediately before their death may be entitled to receive a death benefit pension

A Transition to retirement pension (TRIS) is an ABP but has certain restrictions such as:

it is non-commutable
available to members turning 60 but not turned 65 and are still working
a TRIS automatically transfers to a retirement phase pension when the member turns 65
the maximum pension payment is 10% of the member’s pension balance at the prior 30^th June or when established if part way through the year – there is no pro-rata of the maximum limit if starting a TRIS part way through a year
it is not reported to the ATO in relation to the member’s Transfer Balance Cap (TBC) and therefore the capital used for a TRIS is not limited
the fund does not receive a tax deduction on income arising from a TRIS

Hint – An SMSF member must meet a condition of release to commence a tax free pension. Turning 65 or retiring after turning 60 are typical conditions of release for these pensions.

What affect does the Tax Act have on an SMSF Pension?

A superannuation income stream loops back to the definition of a pension for the purposes of the SIS Act in accordance with SIS regulations outlined above. A “retirement phase pension” is the same as the pension definition under SISA but does not include a TRIS.

The Tax Act regulates the following:

the amount of tax, if any, paid on the receipt of pension payments
the amount an individual can have in retirement phase pensions from all super sources being an individual’s TBC
the amount of an SMSF’s investment income which is tax free due to segregated pension assets or exempt current pension income (ECPI)
failure to comply with pension standards (as per SISA) can mean the pension ceases and the fund loses its tax exemption

An SMSF pension can include untaxed components which are relatively rare. Note our discussion does not include the tax treatment from an untaxed source and would require individual advice.

Fund reporting in SMSF annual return

An SMSF annual return includes the reporting of information in relation to the income and expenses of the fund to determine the fund’s taxable income and detailed member information including contributions, pension payments and closing account balance of account-based pensions in relation to each of the members.

The fund’s investment income from retirement phase pensions is tax free and is classified as non-assessable non-exempt (NANE) income (including capital gains) and does not need to be reported as income in the fund’s tax return if it is from segregated fund assets. Otherwise, the pension income can be calculated using the proportionate method (or actuarial method) by an actuary who provides the trustee with the percentage of ECPI which is applied to all of the fund’s investment income. The ECPI is deducted from the fund’s assessable income.

The total of the member’s TRIS and Retirement phase pensions are reported in the member’s information section of the fund’s annual return with a code to identify the type of pension being paid.

Personal tax return

Income from an SMSF pension received when a member is 60 or over is tax free. The income is classified as NANE income and does not need to be reported as income in the member’s tax return. This rule applies to both retirement phase pensions and TRIS.

A death benefit pension paid to an eligible pension recipient, typically a spouse, is also tax free if the deceased member was 60 or over at the time of death or the recipient is 60 or over when the pension payments are made. If both the deceased member and the recipient are under 60 the pension payments are taxed at the recipient’s marginal tax rate plus Medicare. A tax offset on the taxable component may also be available.

Example – Spouse receiving a death benefit pension

Robert was 58 when he died in May 2024 and his wife Sandra was 55. A new death benefit pension was started with Robert’s super balance from their SMSF which was provided to Sandra. As Robert was under 60 when he died and Sandra was also under 60 she is required to pay tax on the underlying tax component of the pension until she turns 60. She will receive a 15% tax offset on the taxable component. Sandra turns 60 on 17^th March 2029. Any pension payments received on or after the 17^th March 2029 are tax free. It is worthwhile considering delaying pension payments in the 2028/29 financial year until she turns 60.

Hint – Special rules relate to pensions paid to a member who is permanently incapacitated. A 15% tax offset is available on the taxable component of the pension payment for members under 60 years of age.

Transfer Balance Cap

Since 1^st July 2017 the government put a cap on the total amount of retirement phase pensions an individual can have across all of their super funds. The general cap was initially set at $1.6million and has increased to $2million from 1^st July 2025. The ATO records pension movements via a member’s transfer balance account (TBA) starting with the initial pension capital and reduced by pension commutations. A member’s TBA does not include earnings on the pension account, increase in the valuation of assets used to fund the pension or pension payments. Every member has a personal TBC based on the general TBC when they first commence a retirement phase pension and their share of any future indexation which may be available to them.

The ATO will advise an individual if they have an excess transfer balance which can result in the individual having to rollback part of the pension into accumulation phase. Notional earnings may be calculated by the ATO with the individual paying 15% excess transfer balance tax increasing to 30% for subsequent breaches. Where the timeframes for the excess to be removed are ignored, the pension may cease to qualify for tax exemptions.