Meg's Musings – March 2024

It was great to see some of you at the SMSF Association’s National Conference in Brisbane last month. That event just seems to get better every year. I certainly loved catching some of the sessions (with more to watch on the recorded version) and enjoyed presenting “live and in person” – something we get to do far less often these days than we did in the past.

As I was writing this, I looked back over my Meg’s Musings for this time last year and I can see I wrote a short piece on the (then) newly announced Division 296 tax. For those who haven’t been following this closely, that’s the tax proposed to reduce superannuation tax concessions for anyone with more than $3m in super. Now, 12 months on, we have legislation in Parliament to actually implement this measure. However, it’s been referred to a Senate Committee for a closer look. Last week the Senate announced that instead of reporting by 19 April, as originally planned, the deadline for the Committee would be moved to 10 May. Of course, even if nothing happens as a result of these deliberations, the legislation still has to make its way through Parliament afterwards.

At this stage there’s no suggestion that anything will change about the methodology (although obviously lobbying continues) or implementation date (planned for 1 July 2025). No doubt we’re not alone in watching this one with a very keen interest!

In our case, we’re busily working on what sort of support we can provide for advisers, accountants and trustees when it comes to this tax. Stay tuned – I expect we will have education and resources galore. In particular, if it’s legislated in time, I expect there will be a few sessions at our next Super Intensive Day for accountants and advisers. (If you’re interested in this event, dates are on our website, and you can register your interest here. Our “in person” events in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane tend to sell out quickly.)

This week, I’m looking forward to my next “Super in 60” webinar on Thursday. This is the new series we started 6 months ago for non SMSF accountants that’s free for all our actuarial certificate clients. I know – perhaps I am fighting a losing battle, trying to encourage those who haven’t seen the light and chosen to work in SMSFs to learn about super. But on the other hand, super is relevant for just about every working person and retiree these days – which covers most clients. So I’m hoping our new series is just right for serving up the highlights to this group. Helping them to know enough about super to know what to watch out for, when there might be an opportunity (or problem) for their client and perhaps even when to bring in a super expert. And who knows, I may even win a few business services accountants over to the dark side!