SMSF membership increase: ATO interim admin solution
From 1 July 2021,
SMSFs and small APRA funds can have up to 6 members following legislative amendments. The ATO
said it is currently implementing the necessary system changes to enable SMSFs to add members 5 and 6 to their fund through the Australian Business Register (ABR). The ATO recommends that SMSFs should wait until the ABR has been updated before registering or updating their fund with more than 4 members.
For SMSFs unable to wait until the ABR has been updated, the ATO has provided the following interim solution from 1 July 2021 that can be used to add a 5th or 6th member:
- Register the SMSF through the ABR adding members 1-4
- Complete and lodge a Change of Details for superannuation entities form (NAT 3036) to provide the details of member/s 5 and 6
- The ATO will then process this into ATO systems and update the ABR once the required system changes have been made. SMSF trustees will not be required to do anything further.