Federal Budget 2022 | Super - MGD
26 October 2022

The Federal Treasurer, Dr Jim Chalmers, handed down the Labor government’s first Federal Budget at 7:30 pm (AEDT) on 25 October 2022.

The full Budget papers are available at www.budget.gov.au and the Treasury ministers’ media releases are available at ministers.treasury.gov.au.

The superannuation highlights are set out below.

 

Minimum age to make downsizer superannuation contribution reduced

Eligibility to make a downsizer contribution to superannuation will be expanded by reducing the minimum age from 60 to 55 years. The downsizer contribution allows an individual to make a one-off post-tax contribution to their superannuation of up to $300,000 per person from the proceeds of selling their home. Both members of a couple can contribute and the contributions do not count towards non-concessional contribution caps.

The measure will take effect from the start of the first quarter after Royal Assent of the enabling legislation.

Source: Budget Paper No 2, p 20

 

Proposed changes to SMSF residency requirements — deferred

The 2021–22 Budget measure that proposed relaxing residency requirements for SMSFs and small APRA-regulated funds (SAFs) from 1 July 2022, has been deferred.

The proposed measure relaxes the residency requirements for SMSFs by extending the central control and management test safe harbour from two to five years for SMSFs. In addition, the active member test will also be removed for both SMSFs and SAFs. The change will allow members to continue to contribute to their superannuation fund whilst temporarily overseas, ensuring parity with members of large APRA-regulated funds.

This measure will now take effect on or after the date of Royal Assent of the enabling legislation.

Source: Budget Paper No 2, p 18

 

Proposed changes to audit requirements for certain SMSFs — not proceeding

The 2018–19 Budget measure that proposed changing the annual audit requirement for certain self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs) will not proceed. The measure had proposed to change the annual SMSF audit requirement to a three yearly requirement for SMSFs with a history of good record-keeping and compliance.

Source: Budget Paper No 2, p 19

 

Proposed requirement for retirement income products metric reporting — not proceeding

The 2018–19 Budget measure that proposed introducing a requirement for retirement income product providers to report standardised metrics in product disclosure statements will not proceed. The measure had proposed forcing retirement income product providers to report simplified, standardised metrics in product disclosure statements to assist customer decision-making. The proposed measure had been announced alongside the introduction of a retirement covenant requiring superannuation trustees to formulate a retirement income strategy for superannuation fund members.

Source: Budget Paper No 2, p 18

 

This article contains information regarding taxation and legislative change, which is based on policy announcements that are yet to be passed as legislation and may be subject to future change. Any advice included in this article is general and has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. As such, you should consider its appropriateness having regard to these factors before acting on it. Any tax information refers to current laws, is not based on your unique circumstances and should not be relied on as tax advice. Before you make any decision about whether to acquire a certain financial product, you should obtain and read the relevant product disclosure statement.