SMSF records

Add the fund in Legal owners first, as a self-managed super fund. Its row in Legal owners then has SMSF records. So does the top of the fund's own page. Return to legal owner goes back.

The page has four parts, in this order: Members, Retirement sources, Fund expenses and Member activity.

The fund's assets and loans are recorded like anyone else's, with the fund as their legal owner. Its properties are under Properties, and its cash and shares under Other assets. The fund's tax settings for each financial year are in Legal owners.

Add membership asks for two things.

• Member: a person from Legal owners. Add the person there first if they are not listed. With no people at all, the form says Add a person first.
• Starts: the first day the membership applies.

Memberships lists each member and when the membership Applies. Daniel and Emma each read From 1 July 2016.

Record memberships before anything else. Member balances, contributions and benefit payments each need a member whose membership applies on their date. With no membership, those forms say Add a membership first.

When a member leaves, open their name and select End membership. It asks for the last day they are a member. Once it has ended, Edit shows Ends, to change or clear that date.

Delete membership asks first. It says to remove any saved member balances that use the membership before deleting it. If the membership has stopped, end it instead to keep its history.

Record member balances takes the balances from one fund statement.

1. As at: the date the statement's balances apply. It starts at today.
2. A balance for each member whose membership applies on that date. The form shows one field for each.

Take every balance from the same statement. If no membership applies on the As at date, the form says No fund member is active on this date.

Recorded member balances lists each record, newest first. It shows the As at date, the day it was Recorded on, and every member's balance. The last column says Used for the record in use and Not used for the rest. The record in use is the latest one on or before today.

The Mitchells have records from 30 June 2021 to 30 Sept 2026. The 30 Sept 2026 record is Used.

Open a record's As at date to change its balances. The As at date cannot change once saved. To fix a wrong date, delete the record and record it again. Delete member balances asks first, and member balances today then start from the latest record left.

Member activity records money paid into or out of the fund for one member. Record contribution and Record benefit payment each ask for:

• Date: today or earlier. A future date is refused.
• Member: a member whose membership applies on that date. When only one applies, it is chosen for you.
• A type.
• Amount.

A contribution is Employer concessional, Personal concessional or Personal non-concessional. Concessional contributions are paid before tax and taxed in the fund at 15%. Non-concessional contributions are paid from after-tax money. The fund pays no tax on them unless they go over the yearly cap.

A benefit payment is a Lump sum or a Pension payment.

Contributions and benefit payments lists both, newest first, with the Activity, Member, Date and Amount. Daniel has one: a Personal non-concessional contribution of $20,000 on 20 May 2026.

Only activity after the record in use moves a member's balance today. Daniel's contribution came before the 30 Sept 2026 statement, so that statement already holds it.

Open a line to change it. Delete contribution and Delete benefit payment ask first. Deleting one changes neither the fund's assets nor its recorded member balances.

Employer super from a salary works another way. When a person's super contribution treatment sends it to the fund, the fund's own page counts it in Cash received, less 15% contributions tax. Emma's salary sends $16,416 a year. It does not move member balances today. Only a contribution recorded here, or a newer statement, does that.

A member's balance today starts from their balance in the record in use. Each contribution since adds to it. Each benefit payment since takes from it. A concessional contribution adds what is left after 15% contributions tax.

Member balances today Member balances today Each member's latest balance from a fund statement, and their balance today: that balance plus later contributions less benefit payments. lists each member's Recorded balance. A Balance today column shows only when activity since the statement has moved a balance. Select a figure to see its working.

Say Emma's employer pays a $5,000 employer concessional contribution on 1 Oct 2026, after the 30 Sept statement. Once it is recorded, Emma's Balance today reads:

A member left out of the latest record starts from their own latest record, and the working says so. A member who joined after the record starts from zero.

A retirement plan pays a member no more than their balance today.

Member balances against the fund sets three figures side by side, with a bar for each member.

• Fund net position Fund net position Recorded fund asset values less the debt the fund legally owes. : each fund asset at its newest value, less what the fund owes.
• Member balances: every member's balance today, added up.
• Difference Difference Fund net position less the member balances. It shows how much fund value the member records do not yet explain. : the fund net position less the member balances.

The fund owes nothing, so its net position is its three assets added up.

The cash account's recorded balance on 30 Sept 2026 was $157,000. That day the three assets came to $1,449,000, the same as the member balances. Since then the account's estimate has moved on by the fund's recorded income and costs. That is the $7,963 difference.

When concessional contributions are recorded since the statement, the difference also holds their 15% contributions tax. The working says that tax stays in the fund until the statement for that year is recorded.

Member balances are a comparison only. They are not legal ownership, and they are not added to net position.

Retirement sources shows the Fund cash: each cash account the fund owns alone, with its balance. The Mitchells' is the Mitchell Super Fund account, $164,963.

A retirement plan pays each member's benefits from this cash as it needs it. It treats a benefit paid from age 60 as tax free. A strategy may sell other fund assets instead.

The section needs two things.

• A recorded balance for every member. With none, it says No member balances to draw on.
• At least one cash account the fund owns alone. An account that offsets a loan counts only when the fund alone owes that loan.

Until both are in place, the section names what to record.

The post what you can reach, and when explains how money held in a fund reaches a member.

Add fund expense records a cost the fund pays directly, such as its audit or the yearly levy. It asks for:

• Name.
• Amount and Frequency: Weekly, Fortnightly, Monthly, Quarterly or Annual.
• Starts: the first day it applies.
• Tax treatment: Deductible from fund income, or Not deducted from fund income.

Fund expenses lists each with its Recorded amount, when it Applies, its Tax treatment and its Current average monthly. That last figure is a full year of the amount recorded today, divided by 12.

The Supervisory levy, $259 a year, is $22 a month.

A cost a person, company or trust pays is a living expense instead. A cost of a property the fund owns, such as council rates, goes on the property. The fund's own page counts both its expenses and its property costs in Cash paid.

To change an amount, open the expense and select Record a new amount. It asks for the Amount and the day it Starts. The current amount applies until the day before. End fund expense asks for the last day it applies. These work as they do for a living expense.

Delete fund expense asks first. Every result, past years included, then reads as if it was never paid. If the cost has stopped, end it instead to keep its history.

A missing record is never read as zero. The page says what to record.

• With no member balances on or before today, Members says No member balances recorded by this date.
• After a contribution recorded since the statement, the fund's cash needs a balance dated on or after that contribution. Until then the fund position is unavailable, and the page says Record the fund cash balance, in an account the fund owns alone, dated on or after its latest contribution.
• When benefit payments since the statement are more than a member's balance, results ask you to correct the activity or record newer member balances.

The fund's cash balance needs a newer figure after six months, and the value of its property and of its Fund share portfolio after 12 months. Records that need a newer figure explains how. Setup lists every record a result is waiting on.