The ATO is warning businesses that they will have one last chance to come clean on unpaid super. The ‘Recovering Unpaid Superannuation’ bill passed through the House of Representatives last week, and is awaiting a review by the Senate this week. If passed, employers will have six months to disclose unpaid Super guarantee contributions, in order to avoid penalties.Currently, penalties for late payment include interest and late payment fees. With the introduction of Single touch Payroll, the ATO can track unpaid wages and super quickly, and follow up late payers.
Watch this space..
Here’s a recap of where we are at, and the current key super rates.
Key rates
Contribution Caps – $25,000 per annum
Concessional contributions include:
– employer contributions (including contributions made under a salary sacrifice arrangement)
– personal contributions claimed as a tax deduction.
Non-concessional contributions cap – $100,000 per annum * #
Non-concessional contributions include personal contributions for which you do not claim an income tax deduction.
If you have more than one fund, all non-concessional contributions made to all of your funds are added together and counted towards the non-concessional contributions cap.
* If you are under 65 years old, you may be able to make non-concessional contributions of up to three times the annual non-concessional contributions cap in a single year. If eligible, when you make contributions greater than the annual cap, you automatically gain access to future year caps. This is known as the ‘bring-forward’ option.
*From 1 July 2017, your non-concessional cap is nil – for a financial year – if you have a total superannuation balance greater than or equal to the general transfer balance cap ($1.6 million) at the end of the previous financial year.
Division 293 tax Division 293 tax reduces the tax concession on super contributions for individuals with income greater than $250,000 per annum.
An individual’s income is added to certain super contributions and compared to the Division 293 threshold. Division 293 tax is payable on the excess over the threshold, or on the super contributions, whichever is less. The rate of Division 293 tax is 15%.
Minimum annual payments for super income streams Once you start a pension or annuity on or after 1 July 2007, a minimum amount is required to be paid each year. There is no maximum amount other than the balance of your super account, unless it is a transition to retirement pension which is not in the retirement phase, in which case the maximum amount is 10% of the account balance.
Minimum Pension rates
If you are above the age listed below, you must withdraw as a pension at least the following percentage of last year’s member pension balance
AGE | RATE |
Under 65 | 4% |
65-74 | 5% |
75-79 | 6% |
80-84 | 7% |
85-89 | 9% |
90-94 | 11% |
95+ | 14% |
Fun Facts
– Australians have superannuation assets of $2.7 trillion at 30 June 2018
– You can check your Super balance by logging on to MyGov (or via your tax agent on the Portal)
– The largest super funds in Australia include AMP, Australian Super, REST, BT Funds Management, Colonial Mutual and Sunsuper
If any of these are of interest, contact the team. We have used these and implemented for a number of clients, and can also get discounts.