SMSF trustee declaration (NAT 71089): what it is and when to sign

The ATO trustee declaration (form NAT 71089) is a legally required document that every new SMSF trustee — and every new director of a corporate trustee — must sign within 21 days of being appointed. It is the single most commonly missed compliance step in first-year SMSF audits, and the consequences for failing to sign it are significant.

What the declaration says

By signing the NAT 71089, you acknowledge in writing that you understand your duties as an SMSF trustee under the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993. Those duties include acting in the best financial interests of all members, keeping fund money separate from personal money, maintaining an investment strategy, complying with contribution and benefit payment rules, and ensuring the fund is audited annually by an independent ASIC-registered SMSF auditor.

Who must sign it

• Every individual trustee of an SMSF, when first appointed.
• Every director of a corporate trustee company, when first appointed.
• New trustees joining an existing fund (e.g. a spouse added later, an adult child joining the family fund).
• Existing directors do NOT need to re-sign when the fund changes administrators — the original declaration travels with the trustee, not the fund.

The 21-day rule

Section 104A of the SIS Act requires the declaration to be signed within 21 days of appointment. It must be retained for at least 10 years and made available to the ATO if requested. Missing this deadline is treated as an administrative penalty offence — currently 10 penalty units per trustee ($3,300 at 2024–25 rates), which the trustee must pay personally rather than from the fund.

What happens if it's not signed

An auditor who discovers an unsigned or missing trustee declaration must lodge an Auditor Contravention Report with the ATO. The ATO then issues a remediation notice and the personal $3,300-per-trustee penalty. In serious cases — particularly where the trustee continues to flout the rules — the fund can be made non-complying, which strips the 15% concessional tax rate and applies the top marginal rate to the entire fund balance. For a $500,000 fund, that is a one-off $235,000 tax cost.

What easySMSF does for you

Every easySMSF setup includes the trustee declaration in the digital signing pack — it is signed at the same time as the trust deed and corporate trustee resolutions, well inside the 21-day window. We also include trustee declarations in every administration handover, in case the prior administrator missed one. If you are unsure whether you have a valid declaration on file, ask us — it is a quick check and a cheap remediation if the answer is no.

Sources: Australian Taxation Office — Trustee declaration NAT 71089 (ato.gov.au); Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 section 104A; ATO administrative penalty schedule.