When is the SMSF annual return due?

If you lodge the return yourself

• 31 October for a newly registered fund, and for a fund with earlier years’ returns overdue. Any amount owing is due by 1 December.
• 28 February for every other return, unless the ATO has asked you to lodge on a different date.

If a tax agent lodges it

Your agent gives you the due date. It comes from the ATO’s lodgment program for registered agents, and it can be later than the self-preparer dates. Two dates the ATO sets out for SMSFs:

• A fund’s first return (or its first after a year where no return was needed) is due by 28 February. But if the ATO reviewed the fund when it registered, its first return is due by 31 October even through an agent. The ATO tells the fund if that applies.
• A fund with earlier years’ returns outstanding at 30 June, or one told to lodge by that date, is due by 31 October.

Other returns follow the agent’s program. For the 2025–26 year, many are due by 15 May 2027, and some may use a 5 June 2027 concession. Your agent will know which applies to your fund.

If a due date falls on a weekend or public holiday, you can lodge or pay on the next business day.

The audit comes first

The return must not be lodged until the fund’s audit has been finalised. The approved SMSF auditor has to give the independent audit report before the return’s due date, so leave time for the audit, and for answering the auditor’s questions, before the deadline.

What the return covers

One return covers the fund’s income tax, its regulatory information and the members’ contributions, and it is how the fund pays the yearly SMSF supervisory levy.

If it’s late

The ATO calls the annual return the most essential obligation trustees have. If it’s overdue, penalties can apply and the fund can lose its tax concessions. The fund’s status on Super Fund Lookup can also change to ‘regulation details removed’, which can stop it receiving rollovers and employer contributions. A paper return can take up to 50 days to process, so lodging on paper close to the deadline carries the same risk.

How SMSF Cockpit helps, and where it stops

The Annual Audit tracker has a place for the return’s lodgement due date and the date it was lodged. Once a due date is entered, the fund is flagged as the date gets close and again if it passes without a lodged date, on the fund’s What’s Due Next page, the dashboard and (if you turn it on) the weekly email. The same tracker follows the audit itself, from appointing the auditor to receiving their report, so you can see whether you’re on track to lodge on time.

What it doesn’t do: it doesn’t work out your due date for you, since that depends on who lodges and your fund’s history, and it doesn’t prepare or lodge the return. You enter the date your agent or the ATO gives you.