From 1 July 2017 there are three major changes affecting funds paying retirement phase pensions and claiming a tax exemption on some or all of their investment income (exempt current pension income or ECPI).

Winter has arrived and that means it is time to get all our pre-30 June planning finalised.

One of the more crazy elements of the 1 July 2017 superannuation changes was the treatment of market linked pensions.

Your client became the “owner” of the pension on the day of her husband’s passing. This means the value of the pension counts towards her Total Superannuation Balance immediately in March 2018.

And is the minimum pension for the current year recalculated on his 65th birthday?

A question that has already come up in our practice several times relates to clients who died before 1 July 2017.

The timing of Transfer Balance Account Reports for SMSFs has been hotly debated ever since the ATO first flagged its view that this should occur outside the normal annual return cycle. The final verdict is now in.