With the Coalition Government being returned, the focus now turns to the measures which the Government had previously introduced into Parliament but lapsed with the calling of the election.

“We now have some certainty in terms of Government superannuation policy, and I would expect 
many of these measures to be re-introduced into parliament possibly as early as next month,” says Peter Burgess, SuperConcepts General Manager Technical Services.

“To recap, now off the table are the Labor’s party’s proposals to remove refundable franking credits, which clearly would have impacted many SMSFs, and reductions in the contribution caps and other super concessions.

“On the table are the measures announced in this year’s Federal budget to encourage older Australia’s to contribute to super, as well as the super measures announced in previous federal budgets which had not been passed by the parliament at the time the election was called.

“This includes the new SG opt-out rules for high incoming earnings individuals with multiple employers; changes to the definition of NALI to capture income derived from an investment as NALI if the fund has not incurred an arm’s length expense in relation to that income; and changes to the calculation of a member’s TSB if they enter into a LRBA and whether they have satisfied a CoR or the loan is a related party loan.

“With a possible outright majority in the lower house and a slightly less hostile senate, we may even see the re-emergence of the Government’s proposal to increase the maximum number of SMSF members from 4 to 6.

“There is also the spectre of the introduction of 3 yearly audit cycles for some SMSF, although we do expect the latter to be unlikely given the lack of support for this measure from the SMSF sector,” says Mr Burgess.

See Peter Burgess explain in this short video

Media contact: 
Garth Montgomery
garth.montgomery@superconcepts.com.au