Super lodgment

Key lodgment due dates for super

Table: Key dates for super providers and for employers with super guarantee obligations

Lodgment due date	Description
28 July 2026	Super guarantee contributions for quarter 4 2025–26 (1 April – 30 June 2026) to be made to the fund. Note: If an employer does not pay minimum super contributions for quarter 4 by this date, they must pay the super guarantee charge and lodge a Superannuation guarantee charge statement – quarterly form with us by 28 August 2026. Employers can't offset contributions they've paid late for this quarter.
14 August 2026	Departing Australia superannuation payment (DASP) data records for the 2025–26 year that form part of the PAYG withholding payment summary annual report.
28 August 2026	Lodge and pay Superannuation guarantee charge statement – quarterly form for quarter 4 2025–26 (1 April – 30 June 2026) if required contributions were not made by the due date.
31 October 2026	Tax return for all super funds where the Trustee has been advised to lodge by this date, or one or more prior-year tax returns were outstanding as at 30 June 2026. If all outstanding prior-year returns have been lodged by 31 October 2026, the 2026 tax return will be due as in the normal program. Tax return for super funds prosecuted for non-lodgment of prior-year tax returns and advised of a lodgment due date of 31 October 2026. DASP annual report. Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) annual return and audit report – lodgment with APRA. Report lost members for the period 1 January – 30 June 2026.
1 December 2026	Payment of income tax for taxable large and medium super funds. Lodgment of tax return due 31 January 2027. Payment of 2025 income tax for super funds where one or more prior-year tax returns were outstanding as at 30 June 2026. Lodgment of 2026 tax return was due 31 October 2026. Payment of 2026 income tax for super funds where fund was prosecuted for non-lodgment of prior year returns and advised of a lodgment due date of 31 October 2026.
31 January 2027	Tax return for taxable large and medium super funds for latest year lodged – unless required earlier. Payment for these super funds was due 1 December 2026.
28 February 2027	Tax return for non-taxable large and medium super funds by latest year lodged. Annual return for new registrant (taxable and non-taxable) SMSFs, unless they were advised of a 31 October 2026 due date at finalisation of a review of the SMSF at registration. Payment (if required) is also due on this date. Tax return for new registrant large and medium super funds. Payment (if required) is also due on this date.
31 March 2027	Tax return for super funds with total income in excess of $2 million in latest year lodged (excluding large and medium taxpayers). Payment (if required) is also due on this date.
30 April 2027	Report lost members for the period 1 July – 31 December 2026.
15 May 2027	Fund tax return not required earlier and not eligible for the 5 June lodgment concession date. Payment (if required) is also due on this date.
5 June 2027	Tax returns for super funds that were non-taxable or received a refund by latest year lodged and are non-taxable or will receive a refund in current year. Note: This concession is only available to super funds with a lodgment due date of 15 May 2027. It is not available to large and medium taxpayers or funds with an earlier due date.

Newly registered SMSFs

Annual returns for new registrant (taxable and non-taxable) self-managed super funds (SMSFs) are due for lodgment by:

• 31 October 2026 for SMSFs who prepare their own annual return
• 28 February 2027 for SMSFs who are tax agent clients, unless they were advised of a 31 October 2026 due date at finalisation of a review of the SMSF at registration.

An SMSF is not legally established until the fund has assets set aside for the benefit of members.

Our systems will not process returns with zero assets, and the supervisory levy does not need to be paid for newly registered SMSFs that registered in the 2025–26 financial year and:

• were not legally established
• had no assets set aside for the benefit of members.

You can't lodge a Return not necessary (RNN) form, also known as a non-lodgment advice, for an SMSF. However, if your SMSF client does not have assets set aside for the benefit of members in the first year it was registered, you can ask us to either:

• cancel the fund's registration
• flag the SMSF's record as 'return not necessary' if it meets the following conditions and confirms in writing). That
  • although registered, it had no assets and did not receive contributions or rollovers in the first financial year
  • it has provided documentary evidence of the date the SMSF first held assets and commenced operating, for example the SMSF's first bank statement
  • it will be lodging future returns.

RNNs will only be granted in limited circumstances. We only consider RNN requests if the SMSF confirms and provides supporting evidence that it meets all the eligibility conditions.

Your written request should include the SMSF's name, TFN, ABN and documentary evidence of the date assets were first placed into the fund.

To submit the request using Practice mail in Online services for agents, select Superannuation as the topic, and choose from the following mail subjects:

• SMSF new registrant – Return not necessary request
• SMSF cancellation of registration where the fund has not been legally established.

All other funds that have not yet set aside assets for the benefit of members should cancel their registration and re-register when assets are available.

When an SMSF that has previously advised that an annual return was not necessary is legally established and needs to lodge an annual return for the first time, the due date of the first return lodged by a tax agent will be the new registrant due date, which is currently 28 February.

Audit requirements

All SMSFs must have their financial accounts and statements for the fund audited each year by an approved auditor. The auditor must assess the fund’s overall compliance with the:

• Superannuation Industry (Superannuation) Act 1993 and associated regulations (a compliance audit)
• fund’s financial statements (a financial audit).

The auditor must provide the Independent audit report (IAR) before the due date for lodgment of the Self-managed superannuation fund annual return. The return must not be lodged until the audit of the fund has been finalised. It's important to enter in the auditor's details exactly as they are presented in the IAR. Auditors must:

• be registered with the Australian Securities & Investments Commission as an approved SMSF auditor
• have a valid SMSF auditor numberExternal Link (SAN).

MAAS and MATS reporting

APRA-regulated funds report member contributions information to us via the:

• Member Account Attribute Service (MAAS) – used for reporting updates to member account attributes within 5 business days
• Member Account Transaction Service (MATS) – used for reporting member contributions data within 10 business days.

APRA-regulated funds must report the 30 June balance for member accounts through MATS by 31 October each year.

Lost members can be reported via MAAS.

We have issued a fund reporting protocol to help superannuation providers and their administrators meet their legislative obligations for reporting.

Event-based reporting

Super funds have event-based reporting obligations due to the transfer balance cap.

The transfer balance account report (TBAR) is used to report transfer balance account events that affect a member's transfer balance.

From 1 July 2023, the administrative concession allowing SMSFs to report annually when all members have a total super balance of less than $1 million was removed.

All SMSFs must report events affecting members’ transfer balances within 28 days after the end of the quarter in which the relevant reporting event occurred.

APRA-regulated funds need to lodge a TBAR within 10 business days after the end of the month in which a transfer balance account event occurred. The MAAS and MATS services are used to create a TBAR. APRA funds report transfer balance account events through these services and the lodgment due dates for MAAS and MATS apply.