Notes from the build.
Calculations, compliance mechanics, and what we read in the ATO rulings.
- 24 July 2026
The transfer balance cap rose to $2.1 million on 1 July. Most trustees will not get the full increase
The general transfer balance cap indexed from $2.0 to $2.1 million on 1 July 2026. Almost nobody with an existing pension gets the full $100,000: the increase is proportional, and the ATO works yours out from events you have to report this month.
Read → - 21 July 2026
Every SMSF asset needs a fresh 30 June market value, not last year's number carried across
Valuation breaches now sit above 12% of everything SMSF auditors report to the ATO. The rule is one line long: every asset at market value, every 30 June. The evidence is where funds come unstuck.
Read → - 14 July 2026
Carry-forward concessional contributions: five prior years stack into FY 2026-27, gated at $500,000
A trustee who has never touched their concessional cap can direct up to $175,000 into super this year. The figure is real and it sits in the law, gated by one number tested last 30 June and confused with a different rule that shares half its name.
Read → - 12 July 2026
The pension rule that did not change on 1 July, and still catches funds every year
Minimum drawdown percentages are unchanged this year. The dollar amounts are not, because every 1 July the minimum recalculates from that day's balance. The funds that get caught are the ones paying last year's number.
Read → - 12 July 2026
The bring-forward rule moved under your feet on 1 July. Here are the new tiers
Up to $390,000 of after-tax contributions in one year is still possible. But every threshold that decides who qualifies changed with indexation, and a balance check done last year now gives the wrong answer.
Read → - 11 July 2026
Payday Super is live. Two things can bite an SMSF this month, and one is your bank account
Around 244,000 SMSFs receive employer contributions. From 1 July those contributions arrive within seven business days of every payday, into an NPP-enabled account, and July itself can deliver a double-up that eats concessional cap room.
Read → - 11 July 2026
The CGT discount dies in 2027. Your SMSF keeps its one-third. Here is the split
The 50 percent discount is being replaced with indexation and a minimum tax from 1 July 2027. The loudest fact for trustees is the one most coverage buries: superannuation funds are excluded, and the fund's one-third discount survives unchanged.
Read → - 10 July 2026
What changed for SMSFs on 1 July 2026: six numbers to update in your records
Four separate changes landed on the same day this year. Most trustees have heard of one of them. Here are all six numbers that moved, what each one governs, and where the traps sit.
Read → - 9 July 2026
Division 296 started on 1 July. Here is what changed on the ground for SMSF trustees
The new tax on balances above $3 million is live. Most of the commentary covers the politics. Almost none of it tells a trustee which three numbers now matter, or that one widely repeated deadline claim is wrong.
Read → - 6 July 2026
NZ shares in an SMSF: which credits count in Australia, and which never will
Some New Zealand companies attach Australian franking credits to their dividends. Those count. New Zealand imputation credits never do. Funds holding trans-Tasman stocks routinely get this boundary wrong in both directions.
Read → - 6 July 2026
What your SMSF auditor actually needs to see about franking credits
A franking figure in a year-end summary is a claim, not evidence. Auditors need the working: which parcel, held how long, matched to which dividend, under which provision. Most trackers never produce it.
Read → - 19 May 2026
The $5,000 franking exemption myth that costs SMSF trustees credits they never had
The small-shareholder exemption lets individuals skip the 45-day holding rule. Trustees often assume their SMSF gets the same break. It doesn't, and the cost shows up months later, in a place no calculator catches.
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