Avoid being short changed with your super

With recent regulatory changes to super contributions, it is easier than ever to ensure your employer is paying you the super you are entitled to.

There are specific steps you can take to ensure you are being paid correctly. Consider the following:

Understand your entitlements
Employers have to put 9.5 per cent of an employee’s wage into their superannuation account. As of July 2017, these contributions must be made quarterly through the super clearing house. This was introduced by the ATO to prevent dishonest employers from ripping off their employees. If you have not received a quarterly payment by the 28th of the following month, contact the ATO, and they will investigate this on your behalf.

Consolidate your accounts
If you have had various jobs throughout your working life, there is a good chance you have more than one super account. If you do, you will be paying excess account fees. You should look to roll over your funds into one account and close the leftover accounts.

Research
It is advantageous to do your research and be informed regarding your super. This will guarantee you a fund that will provide you with the financial security you deserve when it comes time to retire. You can do this by researching the product disclosure statement of various funds and investigating where your contributions are being invested as well as what kinds of fees you are being charged.

Personal contributions
Making regular personal contributions to your superannuation account can mean the difference of over $100,000 when you retire. Form a plan that works for you, such as setting up a direct payment of $20 a fortnight or $100 a month. This is a great way to take ownership over how comfortably you want to retire.

Super contribution caps: the basics

Making contributions to your superannuation fund is a great way to grow your nest egg, however, there are caps on the amount you can contribute every financial year to be taxed at lower rates. Once you go over these caps, you may be required to pay additional tax.

The cap and extra tax amount will vary depending on your age, the financial year the contributions relate to, and whether the contributions are concessional (before tax) or non-concessional (after tax).

Concessional contributions
Concessional contributions include compulsory employer contributions and salary sacrifice amounts. There is a cap on the amount you can make, and payments are taxed at 15 per cent.

Non-concessional contributions
These are after-tax income contributions and are not taxed in your super fund. However, like concessional contributions, caps also apply to non-concessional payments. From 1 July 2017, the cap was reduced from $180,000 to $100,000 per year. This will remain available to individuals aged between 65 and 74 years providing they meet the work test. The cap is indexed in line with the concessional contributions cap.

The non-concessional cap is also nil for a financial year if you have a total super balance greater than or equal to the general transfer balance cap ($1.6 million in 2017-18) at the end of 30 June of the previous financial year.

Exceeding your non-concessional contribution cap
When you exceed your non-concessional contribution cap, you need to lodge an income tax return for that year. The ATO generally issues a determination if the return is not lodged within 28 days of the due date. You can withdraw the excess non-concessional contributions (and any earnings – the earnings would then be included in your income tax assessment).

Protect yourself from early super release scams

When it comes to protecting your nest egg, avoid getting caught out by a promoter of an illegal early release super scheme.

Early release super scheme scams will involve a promoter contacting you and offering to help you access your super early. They usually target individuals under significant financial pressure or those who are not knowledgeable about super laws and the repercussions and penalties involved in illegally accessing your super.

You can only access your super when you meet a condition of release.

Generally, when you:
– Are 65 years old (even if you have not yet retired).
– Reach your preservation age and retire.
– Reach your preservation age and begin a transition to retirement income stream while still working.

There are special circumstances where you may be able to access your super early.

These special circumstances include:
– Severe financial hardship
– Temporary or permanent incapacity
– Compassionate grounds
– Temporary residents leaving Australia
– Super death benefits (inheriting super)
– Super less than $200
– Terminal medical condition

To avoid falling for an illegal early super release scam, be wary if the promoter:
– charges high fees and commissions;
– requests identity documents;
– claims you can access your super and put the funds towards whatever you wish;
– and tries to persuade you to transfer or rollover your super from your existing fund to a self-managed super fund (SMSF) in order to access your super before you are legally entitled.

Hiring temporary residents: employer super obligations

Employers are being reminded by the Australian Tax Office (ATO) not to forget that along with permanent residents; temporary residents are also entitled to super guarantee (SG).

In most cases, an employer will be required to pay SG on top of their employee’s wages (temporary residents included) if they pay them $450.00 or more before tax in a calendar month.

Providing the temporary resident has met all the requirements, they can submit their claim for the super that their employer has paid as a ‘department Australian superannuation payment’ (DASP) once they have left Australia.

The ATO is encouraging employers to notify their temporary resident workers of the DASP application as it will be easier for these individuals to get the required supporting documents certified in Australia and then lodge once they have left the country.

Superannuation Guarantee Amnesty

The Superannuation Guarantee Amnesty was introduced on 24 May 2018 by the Minister for Revenue and Financial Services in a bid to tackle non-payment of employee super.

The Amnesty provides a one-off opportunity for employers to self-correct any past super guarantee (SG) non-compliance without incurring a penalty. However, there is a lot of ambiguity around which employees are entitled to compulsory super payments.

Small business employers need to pay special attention to these particular areas:

Ordinary time earnings
An understanding of ordinary time earnings (OTE) is essential as it is used to calculate tan eligible employees minimum SG contributions. OTE is generally what your employees earn for their ordinary hours of work. It includes things like commissions, shift loadings and allowances, but not overtime payments. The SG is 9.5 per cent of an eligible employees ordinary time earnings (OTE).

If you make super contributions under an award, check that they are enough to satisfy both the award and the SG. Issues can occur where an agreement prevails over an award, no ordinary hours of work are stipulated, where an employee gets reimbursed, there is no award or agreements and where overtime is paid the same as ordinary hours.

Contractors
So you think you do not need to pay contractors super? Think again. Some contractors may be entitled to super.

The ATO also sees cases where employers classify employees as contractors, and consequently, forgo paying their super. If you are unsure of whether a worker is a contractor or employee, or if you unsure if your contractors are entitled to super, seek professional advice.

Reviewing your super

The ATO is encouraging taxpayers to review their super this tax time.

Finding lost super or consolidating any unwanted multiple accounts can make a massive difference to your nest egg.

There is over $18 billion in lost and unclaimed super. Those who have changed their name, address, job or lived overseas are at high risk of having lost super.

During the last five years, more than $10.7 billion of super has been consolidated from over 2.1 million accounts through ATO online services.

The ATO is also reminding taxpayers that the new super deduction is available. Most people under 75 years of age can claim a tax deduction for personal after-tax super contributions.

Personal super contributions deductions provide a level of flexibility for young people that change jobs frequently, self-employed contractors, small business employees, freelancers and people whose employers do not offer salary sacrifice arrangements.

To claim a deduction for any personal super contributions made in 2017/18, you must lodge a notice of intent to claim a deduction with your fund and receive a confirmation letter from them before lodging your tax return.

SMSFs: beware of illegal early super release

The Australian Tax Office (ATO) is reminding self-managed super fund (SMSF) trustees to beware of allowing members to access their super early.

A self-managed super fund (SMSF) trustee must meet a condition of release before any funds can legally be released.

The ATO can issue severe penalties if you or a SMSF member access your super before you are legally entitled to do so.

Some consequences of getting caught up in an illegal super scheme include the disqualification of trustees, imposition of administrative penalties, the fund being made non-complying and prosecution.

The Tax Office encourages those members who have been involved in an illegal super scheme to contact them immediately. The ATO will review your voluntary disclosure and take your circumstances into account when determining any penalties.

ASIC’s view on SMSFs as ‘one-stop property shops’

The Australian Securities Investment Commission (ASIC) has released a new report highlighting its view on the setup of SMSFs for property investments using ‘one-stop shop’ models.

‘One-stop shop models’ tend to promote the purchase of residential property through SMSF borrowing. They are usually arranged by groups of real estate agents, developers, mortgage brokers, financial advisers and so forth.

This model creates conflicts of interest that may affect the advice given to set up an SMSF. For example, these businesses take advantage of customers with limited or no knowledge of SMSFs or super and have the potential to cause major financial detriment, including:
– Receiving inappropriate or misleading advice to set up an SMSF which may result in members being financially worse off
– The obligations of a SMSF trustee are not clearly explained by the advice provider
– Members may be encouraged into a property purchase at an inflated value, or unaware of undisclosed high commissions.

The Australian Tax Office (ATO) are encouraging individuals to seek independent professional advice from a licensed adviser before establishing an SMSF and undertaking an new investment in an SMSF.

SMSF trustees who make a mistake are also encouraged to make a voluntary disclosure to the ATO. The ATO aim to help SMSF trustees in these circumstances to get their SMSF back on track.

ATO advice for SMSF members with a market-linked pension

The Australian Tax Office (ATO) has recently been made aware of circumstances where a member of a SMSF commences a new market-linked pension and unintentionally exceeds their transfer balance cap.

An individual may have exceeded their transfer balance cap if they were receiving a life expectancy or market-linked pension just before 1 July 2017 (which was a capped defined benefit income stream) and then commuted the pension on or after 1 July 2017 and the transfer balance debit is nil under the special value rule in Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 subsection 294-1245(1); and then commenced a new market-linked pension.

The ATO has acknowledged these are unintended consequences associated with the current law and will not take compliance action at this stage provided an individual’s circumstances align with the above situation and:

• if a fund does not report the transfer balance account events of the commutation or the commencement of the new market-linked pension;
• where the fund has reported the transfer balance debit for the commutation as other than nil.

SMSFs: reporting change

Self-managed super funds (SMSFs) are required to provide an accumulation phase value (APV) on their transfer balance account report for 30 June 2017 in certain circumstances.

SMSFs should note, APV is often different to the account balance of the SMSF member’s accumulation phase assets. This is due to the exit and administration fees and realisation costs that would be taken into account if the SMSF member would voluntarily close their account.

APV is a component of a member’s total super balance which shows the value of the member’s assets in the accumulation phase at 30 June.

Providing a member’s APV is conditional for SMSFs in the 2016-17 financial year. The member’s APV will be calculated as the difference between the closing account balance from the SMSF annual return and the value of the member’s transfer balance account for the SMSF at 1 July 2017 if not provided.

SMSFs need to provide their APV if the SMSF member has interests in the accumulation and retirement phase at 30 June 2017 where the member has a capped defined benefit income stream or a flexi-pension in that SMSF. It is also mandatory to provide the APV where the difference between the APV and the closing account balance is not limited to the value of exit and administration fees, and realisation costs.

If the SMSF member has 100 per cent of their interest in the accumulation phase at 30 June 2017, then providing the APV is conditional and only required when the difference between the APV and the closing account balance is not limited of the value of exit and administration fees, and realisation costs.

Where the SMSF member has 100 per cent of their interest in retirement phase, then the APV is only mandatory where the member has a capped defined benefit income stream or a flexi pension in that SMSF. The APV value to be supplied is zero.

APV reporting for 30 June 2017 is due by 8 September 2018.