Govternment draft legislation

Government releases more superannuation legislation

On 27 September 2016 the Government released another round of draft legislation implementing a number of the changes to superannuation it announced in the 2016 Federal Budget.

Many of these changes will apply from 1 July 2017 so it might be sensible to for you to start thinking of how your superannuation will be impacted by the changes now and whether you might need to change any of your SMSF’s arrangements.

Included in the latest legislation were amendments relating to:

1. Implementing the Government’s $1.6 million transfer balance cap, which places a limit on the amount an individual can hold in the tax-free retirement phase from 1 July 2017.

2. Lowering the concessional contributions cap to $25,000 per year for all taxpayers from 1 July 2017.

3. Reducing the income threshold at which individuals are required to pay an additional 15 per cent contributions tax, from $300,000 per year to $250,000.

4. Providing greater flexibility for those with broken work patterns by allowing individuals with balances of less than $500,000 to ‘carry forward’ unused concessional cap space for up to five years.

5. Removing the tax-free treatment of assets that support a transition to retirement income stream.

Some of these changes may require you to adjust your investment, contribution, pension and estate planning strategies going forward.

This will most likely be the case if you have a superannuation balance of over or close to $1.6 million, were planning on making significant contributions to superannuation in the next few years, are a high income earner or have a transition to retirement pension in place now.

How can we help?

If you are concerned that the Government’s changes to superannuation are going to affect you, please feel free to give us a call to arrange a time to meet so that we can discuss your particular requirements in more detail.