SUPERCentral News
This was the headline issue from the Draft Ruling. The reasoning of the Draft Ruling was that on the death of the member who was in pension phase, the pension ceased as there was no individual entitled to pension payments, with the consequence that the superannuation interest which was previously supporting the pension now transferred to the taxable side of the fund.
The Draft Ruling provided that if insufficient pension payments were made in respect of a pension, the pension failed to satisfy the relevant requirements of the SIS Regulations and therefore for both SIS and tax purposes, there was no pension and, consequently, the superannuation interest supporting the pension was taken to be on the taxable side of the fund for the entire financial year.
It was only 2 years ago that the ATO released the Draft Pension Ruling. This Draft Ruling, while dealing with the relatively simple issues as to when a pension commences and when a pension ceases, did raise some significant policy issues.
The Draft Ruling took a hardline view as to when a pension commenced as a result of a member request. Essentially, the Draft Ruling provided that a pension could not commence before the date of the member request for the pension.
Residents of NSW, Western Australia and Victoria have the opportunity to transfer business real property they hold in their personal name into their self managed super fund and pay little or no state duty on the transfer.
In general, Child Pensions can only be commenced if the child is under age 18 (at the time of death of the member) or has attained age 18 (but not 25) and be financially dependent on the member at the date of death.
Join SUPERCentral at this year's Accountants' Technology Showcase Australia (ATSA) conference, being held in Brisbane on 14 and 15 October 2013. For more information regarding the conference and the special discount ATSA are offering to our members of $110 off the registration fee for the full two day attendance, click on the above heading.
On the death of a super fund member, the SIS Regulations require the death benefit to be "cashed out" as soon as practicable after the death of the deceased member.
The rate for the 2013/14 financial year is 6.20%. The rate for the previous financial year was 7.05%.
Our associates Townsends Business & Corporate Lawyers have recently launched a new website with expanded online legal services. As a SUPERCentral member you can register using your current SUPERCentral ID and password for fast, easy access to the Townsends Lawyers legal services. To register using your SUPERCentral codes just go to www.townsendslaw.com.au and follow the prompts.
Recent changes to the QLD Duties Act 2001 will bring some joy and relief to SMSF Trustees who have entered into or are considering entering into limited recourse borrowing arrangements where the acquired property is QLD real estate.
One of the most significant SMSF recommendations arising from the Super System Review was the recommendation that in specie transfers of listed securities only be on market to remove the possibility of abuse as to the value and date of the transaction.
While the Government has announced measures to deal with the issue of excess concessional contributions, which arise on and from 1 July 2013, the problem of excess non-concessional contributions remains.
Possibly the most significant market development in super over the last 20 years has been the relative decline of retail funds and the emergence of SMSF and industry funds.
While re-contribution strategies are effective to re-mix the taxable and tax free portions of super benefits, these strategies rely on the member being able to re-contribute the amount which has been withdrawn from the super system.
The silence of the Government to the continuation of the 25% discount of the minimum pension drawdown amount is deafening. With less than two weeks to the end of the financial year, there has been no announcement from the Government that the 25% discount will continue.
After surviving June 30 there are changes aplenty in the superannuation arena. Here is a handy summary of nine of those changes to help keep you up to date.
It is likely that Australian Government Bonds (AGBs) will be available for trading on the ASX on 21 May 2013 (so says Minster Shorten).
The Government had announced in the 2012 Budget that an additional layer of contributions tax at 15% would be imposed on concessional contributions of individuals who are high income earners.
The proposal by the Government to increase the concessional contributions cap for taxpayers aged 50 or more has been released for public comments.