A senior SMSF stakeholder has reminded practitioners the ability to adjust SMSF asset values under the Division 296 capital gains tax (CGT) relief provisions is applicable to all fund members and not just those individuals whose total super balance is currently above $3 million, and should be considered by all of them.
Heffron managing director Meg Heffron conceded this course of action may not be applicable for all members, but is particularly relevant for people whose total super balance is just under $3 million.
“I wonder how many clients we’ve got who have [a total super balance of] less than $3 million will still opt in to this relief. I have no idea what we’re going to do in our client base I’ve got to admit,” Heffron told delegates at the SMSF Association National Conference 2026 in Adelaide last week.
“While some of your clients who have got less than $3 million [in their fund] may know they’re highly unlikely to ever get to $3 million, we’ve had some presentations already at this conference that have highlighted how that could happen just because one member dies and the surviving spouse inherits their super as a pension.
“Equally, if that’s not likely to happen for 20 years, they could probably make a pretty safe bet they would have sold their pre-2026 asset by then. So maybe they don’t really need to worry about [the CGT relief] right now.
“However, for every one of those [members] there will be another one whose [total super balance is] $2.5 million and is highly likely to get to $3 million and is really going to be peeved if we didn’t tell them they could have opted in to this relief.”
She took the opportunity to confirm the CGT asset value adjustment will apply to all SMSF assets and not just selective ones.