Federal Election Coalition Win – Policies on Super

1 min read
28/05/19 8:59 AM

As the Liberal & National Coalition return to government following Federal election win, it’s likely to be business as usual for the Australian economy.

While the Coalition hasn’t flagged any major policy changes to superannuation, it announced a few minor changes in last month’s budget that it plans to make.

The budget announcements last month focused on the following to be in effect 1 July 2020:

Australians aged 65 and 66 to make voluntary superannuation contributions even if
they do not meet the current work test requirement to work at least 40 hours over a
30-day period in the year they seek to make contributions.

“This means that Australians aged 65 or 66 years who don’t meet the work test, because they may only work one day a week or volunteer, will now be able to make voluntary contributions to their superannuation” said Mr Frydenberg.

Mr Frydenberg also said there are around 55,000 Australians aged 65 and 66 who will
benefit from this reform in 2020-21.

  • Increase the age limit for spouse contributions from 69 to 74 years up from the
    current cut-off age of 69 years.
  • Extend access to the bring-forward arrangements to those aged 65 and 66 from
    The bring-forward rules currently allow those aged less than 65 years to make three
    years’ worth of non-concessional contributions, which are capped at $100,000 a
    year, to their super in a single year.

Also announced in this year’s Federal budget was providing tax relief to low-and-middle-
income households. The income tax cuts are designed to be implemented over a five-year
period with the tax rate to be reduced from 32.5% to 30% from 1 July 2024 and offset for
the 2018-22 income years.

The Liberal Party implemented most of its major changes to superannuation as part of the
2016 budget when it introduced the transfer balance cap, changes to contribution caps and
the $500,000 lifetime cap for non-concessional contributions, which was later dropped.