SUPERCentral News
The issues with Excess Contributions continue.
Draft legislation has recently been introduced to facilitate super members, who have identified lost super benefits via the SuperSeeker web facility, to simply email a pre-filled authority to the ATO requesting consolidation of their super accounts.
Total super assets deceased in the September Quarter 2011 by almost 3.8%.
Recently introduced draft legislation will clarify the definition of “self managed superannuation fund” (SMSF) and also inserts a new qualification on trustee remuneration.
The Government has also announced that the current co-contributions arrangements will be reduced in amount and the means testing for the co-contribution tightened from the 2012/13 financial year.
A recent decision of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal has again highlighted the tripwire nature of excess contributions tax.
The Government will override the automatic indexation of the concessional contribution cap so that this cap will not be indexed for the 2013/14 financial year.
The 25% discount to the minimum pension amount which currently applies for account pensions (including transition to retirement pensions and market-linked pensions) will be extended to the 2012/13 financial year.
The Government has announced that the 70 year age limit for superannuation contributions required to be made by an employer under the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act, 1992 will be abolished.
As SMSFs are not subject to the jurisdiction of the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal, SUPERCentral News usually does not comment upon cases involving the Tribunal. However, this case does merit consideration because it raises questions as to whether proper notice had been given by the Trustee and the consequences of the failure to provide notice.
Draft legislation to implement the Government’s proposal to refund contributions tax for low income super members has now been introduced. The draft legislation is Tax Laws Amendment (Stronger, Fairer, Simpler and Other Measures) Bill 2011 and was introduced on 2 November 2011.
Only last month (it seems) did the Government release an exposure draft of the first round of the MySuper legislation and now the Government has released the legislation as a Bill.
The Government has introduced draft legislation which will make two significant changes to compulsory super. The first change is to increase the superannuation guarantee age limit from 70 to 75. The second change is to increase (over 7 years) the compulsory employer superannuation contribution rate from 9% to 12%. Both changes commence on 1 July 2013.
The ATO has concluded that an individual who is a step-child will cease to be a step-child upon the termination of the member’s marriage with the child’s parent.
The ATO has, in a recently issued Interpretative Decision ATO ID 2011/83, indicated that the concept of “former spouse” as used in the Tax Act includes a same sex spouse even if the relationship with the member ended before the 2008/09 financial year. The significance of the 2008/09 financial year is that before this year, same sex marriages were not recognised for taxation and super purposes.
Yes, according to a recently released Interpretative Decision – ATO ID 2011/81. However, there are limits to this Decision.
The draft legislation distinguishes between “generic” and “tailored” products. A tailored “MySuper” product is a “MySuper” product which satisfies either the separately branded requirement or is issued only for employees of large employers (ie 500 employees or more).
Briefly, a “MySuper” product is merely a superannuation product which satisfies particular rules. There is no need to establish a new super fund: a “MySuper” product could be issued from an existing super fund.
The “MySuper” changes will officially commence on 1 January 2013 (though it is possible that the start date may be brought forward – as if).
When the establishment of the Super System Review (aka the Cooper Review) was announced by the then relevant Minister, Senator Sherry, many thought that the Review would be the means by which large super funds would make life unpleasant for SMSFs.