Government proposes changes to super budget announcements

The government is proposing a number of changes to its super policy announcement from the May budget. The changes include:

• replacing the proposed $500,000 lifetime non-concessional contributions cap with an annual non-concessional contributions cap of $100,000 (down from the current $180,000 cap). Individuals aged under 65 will be able to “bring forward” three years’ worth of non-concessional contributions

• individuals with a superannuation balance of more than $1.6 million will no longer be eligible to make non-concessional contributions from 1 July 2017. This limit will be indexed to the transfer balance cap

• the Government will not proceed with the harmonisation of contribution rules for those aged 65 to 74. Such people who satisfy the work test will still be able to make concessional contributions

• the commencement date of the proposed catch-up concessional contributions will be deferred by 12 months to 1 July 2018.