Blog

Advice opportunity for clients with market-linked pensions

24 May 2023

SMSF members with market-linked pensions whose balances exceed the transfer balance cap may now have an exit route to greater flexibility, better tax outcomes and preferrable estate planning options.

SMSF Professionals Day – a one-day event designed for SMSF practitioners

Accumulation & contributions

8 May 2023

Building on the success of Accurium’s growth in education and training offering for SMSF practitioners, this year we are pleased to be partnering with selfmanagedsuper to deliver a full day event providing attendees with up to 11 hours of CPD!

Myths of aged care

Age Pension & Aged Care

11 Apr 2023

As the proverb goes, ‘a little knowledge is a dangerous thing’. With much information floating on the internet or a gathering among friends and family, clients sometimes make decisions based on incomplete information which can unfortunately lead to detrimental and sometimes irreversible outcomes.

$3 million cap consultation paper released

Retirement strategies

10 Apr 2023

Treasury has released (31 March 2023) a consultation paper today “Better targeted superannuation concessions” on the proposed measure to reduce the superannuation tax concessions available to individuals whose total superannuation balances exceed $3 million. The proposed measure, if legislated, will apply from 1 July 2025.This consultation paper expands on the Government’s announcement of this measure on 28 February 2023, which included a fact sheet “Better Targeted Superannuation Concession”. You can view the Treasurer’s media release which includes the fact sheet here.

Proposed NALE changes a solution, but is it best?

Expenses, tax and administration

6 Mar 2023

The government has released a consultation paper (24 January 2023), “Non-arm’s length expense rules for superannuation fund” which outlines options to amend the nonarm’s length income (NALI) provisions which apply to superannuation funds. The intention of these potential changes is to ensure the rules continue to operate in line with their original policy intent and provide a greater level of certainty to trustees ahead of the expiry of the transitional compliance approach (PCG 2020/5) on 30 June 2023.

Ethics training – the black, white and grey of practicing in financial services

1 Mar 2023

Our principal Melanie Dunn sat down with ethics expert Nidal Danoun to discuss why professional development training in ethics is valuable for professionals working in financial services.

Member benefit or superannuation death benefit – a shift in perspective

Death benefits & Estate planning

14 Feb 2023

Around this time last year, the ATO provided their view on the scenario where a member had requested a benefit payment but died prior to it being paid. The issue was whether the benefit payment would be treated as a member benefit or as a superannuation death benefit. Almost twelve months on and the ATO has updated their website on this issue which appears to be a reversal of their view from last year.

Indexation of the transfer balance cap – here we go again!

Transfer balance cap

25 Jan 2023

The general transfer balance cap (TBC) is the cap that determines how much an individual can transfer into retirement phase and will increase from the current $1.7m to $1.9m on 1 July 2023. This is the second time that the general TBC has been lifted.

Reduction to downsizer age – an early Christmas present

Accumulation & contributions

18 Dec 2022

Treasury Laws Amendment (2022 Measures No. 2) Bill 2022, which contains the reduction to the Eligibility age for a downsizer contribution, received Royal Assent in 12 December 2022). This means from 1 January 2023, a superannuation fund can accept eligible downsizer contributions from members who are aged 55 years and over.

Accurium leads the way in providing options for ECPI choice

ECPI, segregation and actuarial certificates

7 Dec 2022

The Accurium actuarial certificate application provides the ability to toggle between the election to apply ECPI choice or not before you submit and finalise the actuarial certificate application. This allows our clients to complete a comparative analysis of ECPI outcomes for a fund of applying ECPI choice or not.

Incorrectly correcting a TBAR can lead to loss of ECPI

ECPI, segregation and actuarial certificates

30 Nov 2022

In a recent update to the ATO’s website (QC 70859), the ATO reminds fund trustees that there are important steps to follow when they are amending a transfer balance account reporting (TBAR) or responding to the ATO Commissioner’s commutation authority (CCA).

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, which means defined benefit review time

Defined benefit & market-linked pensions

17 Nov 2022

As we roll into the festive season, well at least the supermarkets are (I’ve already had my fill of fruit mince pies!), it’s time to review SMSFs that have defined benefit pensions, particularly for those that are asset test exempt for Centrelink purposes.