The Australian Taxation Office is introducing event based reporting for self-managed superannuation funds, which means that funds will have to report certain events in “real time”.

Events based reporting rules for SMSFs apply from July 1 but The ATO is giving trustees time to deal with the practical issues involved in changing reporting procedures.

Industry commentators expect the change to be enforced from May next year.

Under the new rules, some events, such as the commutation of a pension have to be reported within 10 business days after the end of the month in which the event occurs.

The commencement of a pension needs to be reported within 28 days of the end of the quarter.

Events relating to the new transfer balance cap rules will also be covered by the new reporting rule.

Peter Hogan, the head of technical at the SMSF Association, says this will be a big change for SMSFs, which have only had to report annually.

Hogan says trustees and their advisers will have to deal with a bigger workload.

The Tax Institute has criticised the move. The Institute’s senior tax counsel Robert Deutsch says: “This is going to put a lot of pressure on tax agents and trustees of small funds and SMSFs.

“Superannuation reporting requirements should be annual. At worst, reporting should be no more frequent that quarterly.”