The Australian Tax Office (ATO) may disqualify an individual from acting as a SMSF trustee or director of a SMSF corporate trustee if they've contravened super laws.

It can also disqualify an individual if its concerned about their actions or suitability to be a trustee.

An individual may be disqualified as a SMSF trustee for not being a ‘fit and proper person’. Personal character is considered along with the circumstances surrounding any contraventions.

When deciding whether to disqualify a trustee, ATO considers how serious the contraventions are, how many contraventions have occurred and how likely it is the individual will continue to be non-compliant.

The ATO will write to disqualified trustees detailing its decision.

A record of each decision was published in the Government Notices Gazette. However from 18 September, 2023 these records are published as Notifiable Instruments on the Federal Register of Legislation website. Individuals who have been disqualified from being a SMSF trustee can apply to have the decision reviewed within a specified time period.

ATO Disqualified Trustee Register

The ATO publishes are register of SMSF disqualified trustees, which can be found linked below.

This ATO register is only updated periodically. The most recent update to the register covers trustee disqualifications up to the end of March 2024. Updates are usually published two months after the end of each quarter.

Federal Register of Legislation

If you need the latest information you can look up the names of the disqualified trustees in the Federal Register of Legislation linked below.

Please ensure ‘notifiable instrument’ box is ticked.

Screen capture below.