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Exempt current pension income

Claiming a tax exemption for exempt current pension income when your small super fund pays retirement income streams.

Last updated 11 April 2022

This information is relevant for all complying small superannuation funds with no more than six members, including:

  • self-managed superannuation funds (SMSF)
  • small APRA funds (SAF).

Ordinary and statutory income a small superannuation fund earns from assets held to support retirement-phase income streams is exempt from income tax. This income is called exempt current pension income (ECPI).

ECPI is claimed in the SMSF annual return or the Fund Income Tax Return. To claim ECPI, all of a fund's assets must be valued at current market value. This also applies when a transition to retirement income stream (TRIS) moves into retirement phase.

Note: From 1 July 2017 income from assets supporting a TRIS is not ECPI unless the TRIS is in retirement phase. This applies to all TRIS regardless of the date the TRIS started.

ECPI has also been extended from 1 July 2017 to include income supporting retirement-phase products such as deferred lifetime annuities and self-annuitisation products.

QC21546