As you may be aware, the Treasurer announced last week a proposed tax change to superannuation.

Who is impacted?

• The measure only affects individuals who have more than $3M in super at the end of a financial year and is not due to start until 1 July 2025, therefore it is the balance in super on 30 June 2026 that matters initially.
• The $3M is per person, not per fund and it includes all of an individual’s superannuation, including both their pension and accumulation accounts and super held in all funds (SMSF, APRA etc).
• The $3M won’t be indexed and therefore won’t increase with inflation each year.

What would the extra tax involve?

• There will be a new special extra tax of 15% on some of the super fund’s earnings.
• The tax will be payable by a member personally, not their super fund but the member will be able to take money out of their fund to pay the extra tax.
• Earnings for this purpose has a special definition. It isn’t the actual taxable income earned by the fund but instead movement of a members total superannuation balance over the year adjusting for payments and contributions.

You can read the Treasurer’s press release and fact sheet providing more detail and examples here.

We would like to reiterate; this is a proposed measure which still needs to be passed by Parliament. We will provide more detail, and how it may impact you, as it becomes available.

If you have any questions in relation to the proposed measure, please contact our superannuation manager, Alyssa Vivian.