Stay ahead of your SMSF.

From 1 July 2026, employers must pay superannuation contributions with each pay cycle rather than quarterly. For SMSF trustees who receive employer contributions, this means your fund must be properly set up to receive payments or contributions will fail to arrive. Two things to check now: first, that your SMSF has a valid Electronic Service Address (ESA) registered with a messaging provider; second, that the bank account details registered with your employer and the ATO are current. If either is missing or incorrect, contributions will not reach your fund.

The Transfer Balance Cap (TBC) is the limit on the total amount you can move into the tax-free retirement phase of superannuation. From 1 July 2025, the general TBC is $2 million. Earnings on assets supporting a pension in retirement phase are tax-free, but only up to this cap. If you exceed it, the ATO will issue an excess transfer balance determination and charge tax on the notional earnings above the cap. The cap applies across all your superannuation interests, not just your SMSF. If you are approaching retirement and planning to start a pension, understanding your personal transfer balance cap is essential before you act.

Every SMSF paying a pension must pay a minimum amount to each pensioner each financial year, calculated as a percentage of the account balance at 1 July. If the minimum is not paid by 30 June, the ATO treats the pension as having ceased for that entire year. This means the fund loses its entitlement to exempt current pension income (ECPI) for that year, and earnings that were tax-free may be retrospectively taxed. It is one of the most common and costly compliance failures in SMSFs. Trustees should confirm their required amounts early in each financial year rather than leaving it to June.

A binding death benefit nomination (BDBN) is a legal instruction to your SMSF trustees directing how your super should be paid when you die. Without a valid BDBN, the trustees decide, which can lead to outcomes that do not reflect your wishes and, in some cases, family disputes. Unlike large super funds where nominations typically lapse every three years, SMSFs are governed by their trust deed, and many deeds allow non-lapsing nominations that do not automatically expire. However, a nomination can still be invalidated if it was not correctly drafted or executed, or if your circumstances have changed significantly since it was put in place. If you set up your nomination when your fund was established and have not reviewed it since, it is worth checking whether it remains valid and still reflects your current intentions.

Yes, under a specific exemption known as business real property (BRP). An SMSF can acquire and hold commercial property that is used wholly and exclusively in a business, including from a related party, provided the transaction occurs at market value and the property is leased back at market rent. This is one of the few instances where the rules permit an SMSF to acquire an asset from, or lease to, a related party. Residential property does not qualify for this exemption.

Super Informed is a free weekly newsletter for Australian SMSF trustees, published every Thursday. It covers ATO rulings, legislative changes, compliance deadlines, and practical strategies in plain English, without jargon, and without financial advice. It is written for the person actually running the fund, not their accountant or financial adviser.

If you are an Australian SMSF trustee who wants to stay across what is happening in superannuation without wading through technical publications written for accountants, Super Informed is written for you. It assumes you are financially literate and take your fund seriously, but it never assumes you have a professional background in tax or law. If you use a financial adviser, the newsletter is designed to complement that relationship, not replace it.

Most newsletters from accounting and financial planning firms are written to inform clients that changes have occurred, with a prompt to get in touch. Super Informed explains what those changes actually mean, in plain English, so you understand the issue before you pick up the phone. It is independent, carries no firm commercial interests, and is written exclusively for trustees rather than as a client communication tool.

There is no catch. Super Informed is free for every subscriber. The newsletter is funded through occasional sponsorships from SMSF-relevant businesses such as auditors, specialist accountants, and platforms. Sponsored content is always clearly labelled and sponsors do not influence editorial decisions. There are no paywalls, no premium tiers, and no upsells inside the newsletter.