Superannuation: What is TBAR (transfer balance account report)?

A TBAR is a form that a superannuation fund must lodge to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) about any events that affect a member’s transfer balance account.

Required under the ATO’s events-based reporting system, providers must report every time there is a retirement phase event.

The rules around how often these reports must be lodged are changing on July 1, 2023.

Who needs to report the TBAR?

The transfer balance account report (TBAR) applies to members of self-managed super funds (SMSFs) who have recently started to take an income stream from their super, have recently retired or will soon turn 65.

An SMSF must complete a TBAR when:

• a transfer balance account event has occurred
• it needs to correct information about a transfer balance account event that it has previously reported to the ATO
• it is responding to a commutation authority.

Since July 1, 2018, entities that are not self-managed super funds use the Member Account Transaction Service (MATS) to report retirement phase events.

What events need to be reported under TBAR?

A transfer balance account report must be lodged when:

• a retirement phase super income stream commences
• lump sum withdrawals were made from a retirement phase income stream
• the balance from a retirement phase income stream is transferred back into an accumulation account (rollback)
• a retirement phase income stream is transferred to another superannuation provider
• the minimum pension was not withdrawn in a financial year
• a death benefit income stream commences
• a retirement phase income stream is commuted voluntarily (such as part of a family court order)
• in response to an Excess Transfer Balance Determination issued by the ATO.

There are some transactions that are excluded from retirement phase reporting. They include periodic pension payments, investment earnings and losses, or when an income stream stops because the interest has been exhausted from pension payments or because the member has died.

What is the reporting frequency and due date for TBAR?

Currently, TBAR reporting frequency for an SMSF is determined by the total superannuation balances of its members.

If all members of an SMSF have a balance of less than $1 million, then all transfer balance account events that occur within a financial year can be reported at the same time annually.

If at least one member of an SMSF has a balance of more than $1 million, then the transfer balance account events for all members must be reported within 28 days after the end of the quarter in which the event occurs.

From July 1, 2023, all SMSFs will be required to lodge their TBAR quarterly, no matter what their members’ total superannuation balance is.

The change is designed to help members make decisions about their transfer balance account.

Under the new rules, all transfer balance account events must be reported 28 days after the end of the quarter in which the event occurred.

Speak to the superannuation experts

Need more information about transfer balance account reporting for your self-managed super fund?

Contact LDB Group for superannuation guidance by calling (03) 9875 2900 or completing the contact form below.