2019 Self Managed Superannuation Newsletter
The latest Self Managed Superannuation update from Bush & Campbell, including:
Re-Cap of contributions for the 2019 Financial Year
Concessional Contributions
The concessional contribution cap (eg deductible contribution) for 2019 (and 2020) is $25,000.
A benefit of the Government’s 2017 changes to superannuation is that everyone who is eligible to make a concessional contribution can do so through a personal member contribution without needing to satisfy the 10% rule. Broadly, personal member contributions were previously limited to the self employed or those with large investment incomes. Under the old rules, employee’s needed to salary sacrifice to make their concessional contributions to superannuation. Now, provided the superannuation fund is notified through the appropriate form, these same individuals may be eligible for a personal deductible contribution.
Unfortunately the work test is still applicable for those over 65 looking to contribute to superannuation.
Non-concessional contributions
You can make after tax contributions to super which could come from your personal savings, transferring personal investments, an inheritance or from the sale of investments. For the 2019 financial year (and 2020) the maximum personal after tax contribution is $100,000, however, if you are under 65 years of age you can contribute up to $300,000 over a fixed three year period. This allows you to make substantial contributions to super and build up your retirement savings. If you are under 65 and make total after tax contributions of more than $100,000 in a financial year the bring forward rule is triggered. This allows you to make non-deductible contributions of up to $300,000 in total over a fixed three year period commencing in the year in which you contributed more than $100,000.
Important: Key to the Government’s 2017 changes was that, for those individuals with a total superannuation balance (over all their super funds) in excess of $1.6m on the proceeding 1 July, non-concessional contributions will generally not be allowable. In addition the 3 year bring forward provisions may be effected if an individual’s superannuation balance is $1.3m or over. The specific workings of non-concessional contributions are technical in this regard and our office should be contacted for comment prior to considering such contributions.
Please be aware that the 30 June 2019 is a Sunday. This may impact the timing of electronic transfers/contributions. The electronic transfer needs to clear in the receiving bank account on or before the 30 June to be considered a contribution.
Reminder to pay pensions before 30 June 2019
If your superannuation fund is in pension or Transition to Retirement (TRIS) phase, it is crucial to ensure that the minimum pension payments for the 2018/2019 financial year are made prior to 30 June 2019.
If a pension fund fails to physically pay sufficient pensions to meet its minimum obligations, the fund will not be entitled to the tax exemption (i.e. it will lose its tax free income status). Other than in specific circumstances, it is not acceptable for the fund to accrue any pension shortfall in its financial statements.
Your minimum pension amount was provided in your SMSF year end letter from Bush & Campbell. If you require additional detail on your minimum pension amount please contact Di McAlister.
Please be aware that the 30 June 2019 is a Sunday. This may impact the timing of electronic transfers. Electronic transfers need to clear the bank account on or before 30 June to be considered paid.
Downsizer contributions – what do they mean?
From 1 July 2018 the Coalition introduced ‘downsizing’ provisions where, in the event you sell the family home, some of the proceeds from the home sale (up to a maximum of $600k for a couple) can be contributed to super. The key eligibility criteria for these provisions are as follows:
You (or your spouse) are 65 years old or over at the time you make a downsizer contribution (there is no maximum age limit).
The amount you are contributing is from the proceeds of selling your home where the contract of sale was exchanged on or after 1 July 2018.
Your home was owned by you or your spouse for 10 years or more prior to the sale.
The proceeds (capital gain or loss) from the sale of the home are either exempt or partially exempt from capital gains tax (CGT) under the main residence exemption, or would be entitled to such an exemption if the home was a CGT rather than a pre-CGT (acquired before 20 September 1985) asset.
You make your downsizer contribution within 90 days of receiving the proceeds of sale, which is usually the date of settlement.
These contributions are bound to be popular particularly when considering.
The size of the ‘new home’ is irrelevant for the purposes of accessing the downsizer contribution.
The downsizer contribution is available irrespective of a members superannuation balance (eg individuals can still access the downsizer contributions if their super balance is in excess of $1.6m)
Please contact our office if you have further questions with regard to the downsizer contributions.
Carry forward concessional contributions – what do they mean?
The annual concessional (before-tax) contribution caps currently offer little flexibility for those who take time out of work, work part-time, or have ‘lumpy’ income and therefore have periods in which they make no or limited contributions to superannuation.
Women often have interrupted work patterns or work part-time, which contributes to lower, on average, superannuation account balances than men. Additionally, individuals may take time out of the workforce to undertake caring responsibilities, further studies, or due to physical or mental illness. Similarly, there is limited flexibility for those who find that they have greater disposable income later in life when some ongoing costs, such as mortgage repayments and school fees diminish. Allowing people to carry forward unused concessional cap amounts provides them with the opportunity to ‘catch-up’ if they have the capacity and choose to do so.
The Government will allow individuals with a total superannuation balance of less than $500,000 just before the beginning of a financial year before a catch up contribution is made, to make ‘catch-up’ superannuation contributions. People will be able to carry forward their unused concessional cap space from 1 July 2018 on a rolling basis for a period of five years. Amounts that have not been used after five years will expire.
Broadly, this means that, if an individual has not maximised their $25,000 concessional cap in the 2019 year, they can carry the unused amount (e.g. $25,000 less the actual concessional contributions made by the individual or their employer during the year) to the following (19/20) year. Then, if eligible to make contributions in the 19/20 year they can contribute, and claim as a tax deduction in their personal returns, $25,000 plus the carry forward amount from the prior year.
Example –
Cassandra is a 46-year-old earning $100,000 per year. She has a superannuation balance of $400,000. In 2018-19, Cassandra has total concessional superannuation contributions of $10,000. In 2019-20, Cassandra has the ability to contribute $40,000 into superannuation of which $25,000 is the amount allowed under the annual concessional cap and $15,000 is her unused amount from 2018-19 which has been carried forward. Cassandra can claim a tax deduction in her personal tax return for the full amount of $40,000 in 2019/20 year. If Cassandra had a realised capital gain in the 2019/2020 year, this superannuation deduction would also reduce any capital gains tax payable in that year.
URGENT - Insurance opt-in requirements for APRA regulated superannuation funds
The information below does not apply to insurances held within self-managed superannuation. However, it you hold insurances in other non-SMSF superannuation funds, read on.
You may have recently received a letter from your super fund advising that insurance in your super account may be cancelled.
This is a result of new Federal legislation passed earlier this year. The objective of this legislation is to ensure that people are not paying for insurance that they do not need.
This new legislation requires that insurance in a superannuation account that has not received a contribution or a roll-over for 16 months must be cancelled. This legislation starts from 1 July 2019 and any inactive period prior to 1 July 2019 will be included in the calculation of the 16 month period.
Some superannuation members may have their insurance cancelled immediately from 1 July 2019.
ACTION IS REQUIRED NOW!
What you need to do:
Review all your superannuation accounts. Note if you have insurance in an SMSF this will not be cancelled under these changes.
Check if you have insurance in your super account
Is your account active? When was the last contribution made?
If no contributions have been made in the last 16 months and you wish to op in for your insurance you need to either:
Complete the forms from your super fund and return them ‘opting in’
Make a contribution to your fund
Contact your super fund directly to discuss
Please note that if you or your employer has made a contribution in the last 16 months to the super fund where your insurance is held no action is required by you.
Ensure you respond before 30 June 2019 to guarantee your insurance is not cancelled. It could be difficult to replace this cover later.
In these circumstances, it is most likely that people holding these policies through an APRA-regulated super fund will consider that their SMSF is their primary superannuation account and therefore receives all their contributions and roll-overs.
It is usually the case that people will leave enough money in their APRA-regulated fund account to cover the cost of insurance premiums. Where required they may rollover funds from their SMSF to their APRA-regulated fund or make a contribution to pay for insurance premiums and administration fees to keep their insurance policy.
Under the new legislation, you now may lose your insurance cover if your APRA-regulated fund is considered inactive because it has not received a contribution or a rollover for a continuous period of 16 months.
At 1 July 2019, if your APRA-regulated fund is considered inactive for 16 months your insurance will be terminated.
APRA-regulated funds had until 1 April to identify members who have been continuously inactive for six months or more and now have until 1 May to inform those inactive members that their insurance will soon be switched off unless they elect to retain it.
We are concerned that insurance will be unknowingly closed for these accounts because members have not checked their correspondence, especially for those who rely on this insurance held separately.
This could have a devastating impact on policy holders or their beneficiaries if their insurance cover was unknowingly terminated. Furthermore, it may be extremely difficult or costly to try and access insurance at a later stage of life.
So what can you do?
It is important that if you wish to maintain your insurance cover that you take necessary steps as soon as possible. This includes either:
Providing a direction to your APRA-regulated fund that you wish to ‘opt-in’ for your insurance cover to be maintained.
Making a contribution or rollover to your ‘inactive’ APRA-regulated fund so that the period for which your fund starts to be inactive is reset. However, it stressed that you also ‘opt-in’.
Recap of the 1 July 2017 changes and what they mean for pensions and TRIS’
Transition to retirement income streams losing their tax-exempt earnings status
From 1 July 2017, superannuation fund members lose the tax-exempt treatment of earnings on assets that support a transition to retirement pension (TRIS). Members will still be able to start new or maintain existing TRIS’s, but they now need to be considered with other SMSF and personal objectives.
The $1.6 million transfer balance cap (TBC)
From 1 July 2017, a maximum TBC of $1.6m has been introduced that limits the total amount of superannuation assets a member can hold in the tax-free pension phase to $1.6m. There is no restriction placed on subsequent earnings or capital growth on the assets supporting a member’s TBC. This means that if the starting balance of the TBC is $1.6m and investment earnings and asset growth increase the value of the TBC to $2m, the $2m is still in the tax free component of the super fund.
Assets over the $1.6m TBC that are currently in superannuation can remain within the super fund and do not need to be withdrawn. Rather, they will commuted (converted) to the member’s accumulation account within the super fund.
Generally, taxable income derived from accumulation assets are taxed at 15%, with a 10% rate applying to net capital gains on assets held for more than 12 months (after allowing for a 1/3 CGT discount).
It should be noted that there is no change to the ability of a member of a super fund, once they are retired or over 65, to withdraw their chosen amount from superannuation (provided that amount is in excess of the ATO’s statutory amount). These withdrawals will be permissible from both pension assets and accumulation assets. Additionally there has been no change to the tax-free nature of a superannuation member receiving a pension from their super fund tax-free if over 60 years old.
We have been working closely with our clients that are affected by these changes. As these changes are quite complex questions may still exist, in which case please contact our office.
The Bush & Campbell SMSF Team
Daniel Uden - Director
Daniel commenced at Bush & Campbell 20 years ago and heads our SMSF team. Daniel has been working with our superannuation client base over the last 8 years. Daniel is a Chartered Accountant, Registered Company Auditor and holds a Professional Certificate in Self Managed Superannuation Funds. Daniel is also licensed to provide advice, as an Authorised Representative of Aura Wealth Pty Ltd, with regard to superannuation and SMSF recommendations. Daniel is looking forward to working with our existing and new clients to continue to develop positive financial strategy outcomes for self managed superannuation.
Di McAlister – SMSF Manager
Di McAlister commenced employment with Bush & Campbell in 1978. After working with local real estate firms specialising in property management and accounting she returned to Bush & Campbell in November 2001 to take up a position in our self managed super fund team. Di has been coordinating the superannuation team since and has a deep understanding of the transactions and day-to-day activities and obligations of super fund trustees.
Julie Zappala – SMSF Accountant
Julie Zappala started as a trainee with Bush & Campbell in February 1987. After time with KPMG in Albury and in commerce she returned to the Bush & Campbell in 2002 and took up a full-time position in the self managed super fund team shortly thereafter. She has been working as an integral SMSF accountant in the team ever since.
Geoff Watson – Auditor
Geoff Watson is a Director of Bush & Campbell who commenced his employment with the firm more than 45 years ago. Geoff is a qualified SMSF Auditor who is responsible for auditing a number of our SMSF’s.
David Rosetta – Director and head of SMSF Audit and Technical
David Rosetta is a Chartered Accountant, Registered Company Auditor and SMSF Auditor. David is part of our technical SMSF team and assists the SMSF audit department with their technical queries.
Liz Leman - Administration
With a background in office management in professional services firms, Liz commenced work with Bush & Campbell in 2016. Liz is our SMSF administration assistant who is responsible for all the administration functions that occur within the SMSF team.
Leanne Mathew - Administration
Leanne Mathew is Bush & Campbell’s Administration Supervisor and has been with the firm since February 2013. Leanne has had 16 years experience in the industry and is responsible for overseeing our administration team including compliance matters for our superannuation funds.
Sharon Ferguson – Director
Sharon Ferguson is the Director of Bush & Campbell Financial Services. Commencing with Bush and Campbell in 2001, she has over 18 years financial planning experience. Sharon is an expert in providing total financial solutions to assist individuals, business owners and families to better manage their wealth and financial needs. Sharon specialises in investment advice including direct share portfolio management, superannuation, retirement planning, insurance and in more recent years, Aged Care. Sharon is now a sought after professional in the region of aged care financial advice, explaining and managing the maze of nursing home information.
Ann Thompson – Financial Planner
Financial Planner Ann Thompson has over ten years experience in the financial services industry. Ann's focus on getting to know her clients enables her to develop with them a personalised strategy to ensure they each achieve their goals throughout their lifetime. With specialised knowledge in the areas of life insurance and self managed superannuation funds, Ann can advise in all aspects of financial planning including strategic advice, investment advice, superannuation, retirement planning and personal insurance. Along with a genuine commitment to exemplary customer service, Ann enjoys mentoring team members and developing systems to continually enhance the customer experience.
Material contained in this newsletter is an overview or summary only and it should not be considered a comprehensive statement on any matter nor relied upon as such.
This newsletter contains general information only. You should therefore consider whether information contained in this presentation is appropriate to you having regard to these factors before acting on it. As the rules associated with the super and tax regime are complex and subject to change and as the opportunities and effects differ based on your personal circumstances, you should seek personalised advice from a financial adviser and your accountant before making any financial decision in relation to super, tax or other matters discussed in this newsletter.