Federal Budget update and key insights
The Federal Budget has been released and was met with surprise by many. The Budget's primary focus was on short-term and targeted tax concessions and payments to subsidise those impacted by the increase in the cost of living.
You can breathe a sigh of relief that there were no surprises when it came to super. There were just two measures that had a direct impact, and each of them had been released previously.
- An extension of the 50% reduction in the minimum pension drawdown rates for account-based income streams and market-linked income streams that have been in place since the pandemic.
- An increase in the amount that could be released under the First Home Super Saver Scheme from $30,000 to $50,000 which had been announced in the Budget in May 2021.
The super changes come off the back of last year's budget announcements, which included abolishing the work test for non-concessional contributions between ages 67 and 75 and reducing the age to qualify for the downsizer contribution to age 60.
The tax concessions and payments directed at those impacted by the cost-of-living increases were a once-only $420 cost of living non-refundable tax offset for low to middle-income earners with an adjusted taxable income of less than $126,000. There's also a one-off $250 cost-of-living payment for eligible Australian pensioners and concession cardholders and a reduction in fuel excise of 22.1 cents per litre until 28 September this year.
Source: www.superconcepts.com.au
Autor: Graeme Colley, Executive Manager, SMSF Technical and Private Wealth