{"id":13298,"date":"2022-02-25T08:00:32","date_gmt":"2022-02-24T21:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dbalawyers.com.au\/?p=13298"},"modified":"2022-02-25T10:35:18","modified_gmt":"2022-02-24T23:35:18","slug":"recent-changes-to-contributions-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dbalawyers.com.au\/ato\/recent-changes-to-contributions-rules\/","title":{"rendered":"Recent changes to contributions rules"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Treasury Laws Amendment (Enhancing Superannuation Outcomes for Australians and Helping Australian Businesses Invest) Bill 2021 (Bill<\/strong>) recently passed both houses of Parliament and only awaits Royal Assent. The key superannuation measures in this Bill are:<\/p>\n To achieve this, the Bill makes amendments to the following legislation:<\/p>\n This article explains some of the important changes from the Bill.<\/p>\n The Bill repeals s 27(2) of the SGAA. This section provided that superannuation contributions did not need to be made for employees receiving salary or wages of less than $450 in a month. Accordingly, employers will be required to make contributions for any employee regardless of the wages earned in a month. The Bill does not however remove other exemptions for employer SG requirements, such as part-time employees under 18.<\/p>\n This change applies in relation to a calendar month that is in a quarter beginning on or after:<\/p>\n The Bill amends s 292-102(1)(a) of the ITAA 1997 to reduce the age of those who can access the downsizer contributions from 65 to 60. These changes are to apply to downsizer contributions made on or after 1 July 2022.<\/p>\n The Explanatory Memorandum for the Bill states that changes are also needed to the acceptance rules in the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulations 1994<\/em> (Cth) (SISR<\/strong>) and the Retirement Savings Account Regulations 1997<\/em> (Cth) (RSAR<\/strong>). Accordingly, advisers should ensure any relevant amendments to regulations are made before relying on these changes.<\/p>\n Moreover, the super fund deed may also require amending before a downsizer contribution can be made for someone under 65.<\/p>\n The Bill inserts a new s 290-165(1A) into the ITAA 1997 which applies the same amended \u2018work test\u2019 rule for people aged 67 to 75 as found in reg 7.04(1A) of the SISR to the deductibility requirements for personal\/member contributions. Note that the deductibility requirements rules for employer contributions will be found in s 290-80 of the ITAA 1997 and will be less restrictive for mandated employer contributions.<\/p>\n That is, a member aged between 67 and 75 can make a deductible contribution, if they meet the work test, or, if they do not satisfy the work test in the relevant income year, they satisfy the work test exempt criteria.<\/p>\n The work test exempt criteria can apply if the following criteria is satisfied:<\/p>\n The \u2018prescribed provisions\u2019 of the SISR and the RSAR specify the equivalent \u2018one off\u2019 exceptions that apply to the existing work tests in the SISR and RSAR.<\/p>\n The relevant obligations on superannuation funds receiving<\/em> contributions under the SISR and the RSAR will be removed. Thus, before relying on this change the following must occur:<\/p>\n Naturally, the super fund deed also needs to be checked as it may require amendment before relying on this change.<\/p>\n The Bill also amends the bring forward provisions for non-concessional contributions in s 292-85 of the ITAA 1997 to provide that those under 75 can utilise the bring forward mechanism. Members will only be able to access the bring forward arrangements for years in which they have cap space. At an earlier stage, some commentators speculated that regulations might issue to phase down the bring forward limits before reaching 75. However, no further limitations were introduced. This means that if a member who was 74 with a total superannuation balance (TSB<\/strong>) of less than $1.48 million could contribute $330,000 prior to attaining 75 years under this change.<\/p>\n The bring-forward rule cap amounts in FY2022 are summarised below:<\/p>\n\n
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SG change<\/h3>\n
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Downsizer contribution eligibility<\/h3>\n
Work test and age restrictions changes<\/h3>\n
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