Proposed changes
How might your super be changing?
A number of changes to superannuation have been proposed that have yet to be legislated. Generally, these proposed changes are announced during the Federal Budget each year. These include:
Insurance
It has been proposed that insurance will not be automatically provided to super fund members until their super account balance reaches $6,000.
Retirement income products
The Federal Government has proposed a new retirement income framework, which would require super funds to offer whole of life products and to provide standardised information. If these changes are introduced, the Age Pension means test rules may also be changed.
Self-managed super funds
The Federal Government has in the past proposed raising the maximum number of trustees allowed in a self-managed super fund from four to six and allowing funds with "a history of good record-keeping and compliance" to obtain an audit once every three years, instead of annually.
No change to legislated super guarantee increase
The Federal Budget 2019 did not make any changes to the legislated increase in the super guarantee. It is still slated to begin with an increase from 9.5 per cent to 10 per cent on 1 July 2021.
Unpaid super
On 14 September 2017, the Federal Government introduced a bill seeking to close a legal loophole that allows employers to short-change employees who make extra salary sacrifice super contributions.
Closing this loophole would be a welcome step in tackling widespread super guarantee non-compliance, but a more comprehensive approach is necessary given the salary sacrifice changes would only help one in ten of those affected by unpaid superannuation.
In September 2019, the Federal Government re-introduced legislation to establish a an amnesty for employers who haven’t been paying their workers their legal super entitlements.
Choice of fund
On 14 September 2017, the Federal Government introduced a bill that would extend choice of fund arrangements to those who currently choose their super fund through collective bargaining in enterprise bargaining agreements (EBAs).
Click to see the Super changes or Pension changes which have previously been passed and are now legislated.