With the Federal election looming, the Australian Labor Party’s policy to prevent many taxpayers from receiving a refund for their franking credits has certainly become a dominant issue for many retirees, particularly those with SMSFs.

As we get closer to the end of the financial year, many SMSF members with pensions will be checking the amounts paid from their fund so far to make sure the minimum payment requirements will be met.

In the new world of calculating exempt current pension income, if your 100% pension fund receives a contribution, and a new pension is commenced with that amount immediately on receipt, do you need an actuarial certificate?

Well, in fact pension payments have always needed to be paid in cash. Only lump sums can be taken in-specie.

With the 1 July 2017 introduction of the $1.6m Transfer Balance Cap came a new obligation on superannuation fund trustees to report certain member “events” to the ATO. These events are reported using a “Transfer Balance Account Report” or TBAR.

Prior to 1 July 2017, as a general rule, where an individual was age 60 or over and wanted to draw monies from their pension account in excess of their minimum pension requirements, the excess was simply treated as an additional pension payment.

Must the fund issue a PAYG summary? Does the individual need to report the payments in their personal tax return? Are they still eligible for the untaxed element tax offset?

The majority of SMSFs lodged their Transfer Balance Reports to report the 30 June 2017 value of the members’ pension accounts in the final days of the 2018 financial year. ETB determinations then began issuing three to four days later.

From 1 July 2017 some funds providing retirement phase pensions are no longer allowed to be classified as segregated when it comes to claiming a tax exemption on some or all of their investment income.

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.