Posted in Superannuation

Usually I don't like these types of 'too good to be true' statements, but this one is actually legitimate. The federal government's Superannuation Co-Contribution Scheme is still available, but with some limitations: Your assessable income for the 2014 Financial Year has to be no more than $33,516 You have to make a non-deductible contribution to your super, before 30 June 2014 The federal government will co-contribute 50% of your contribution, up to...

I recently developed a strategy for a client which, in effect, will increase their compulsory employer superannuation contributions. Employers often 'package' their employee's remuneration package, possibly including a car allowance. However, some employers only calculate their compulsory super contributions based on the gross base salary (which doesn't include the car allowance component) If the car allowance component is say $17,000, the employee may miss ou...

A Self-Managed Super Fund (SMSF) is very similar to public super funds, but they have some key advantages for investors, which are not available in public super funds. The Investor Selects the Investment Public super funds pool monies from all of their members and then the fund's manager decides which investments to buy, sell or keep. A SMSF is effectively restricted to a maximum of four members, and are usally family members (e.g. husband, wife, and children). As they are ...

In some cases, you can obtain details about your lost superannuation policies, and contributions made on your behalf, from the Federal Government. The federal government, via the ATO,  has set-up a website specifically to help you keep an eye on your superannuation investements, including helping you to find your lost super: Click Here to go to the SuperSeeker Website The SuperSeeker website will help you to: Check what contributions have been made to your current ...

There were some changes to the taxation of superannuation contributions, as of the 1st July, 2013. Here's a quick summary of the changes to tax-deductible superannuation contributions: Tax-Deductible Super Contributions In their wisdom, some years ago now, the government thought it would be a great idea to change the reference term for tax-deductible super contributions from the easy-to-remember 'Tax Deductible Contributions', to the what-the 'Concessional Contribut...