The Treasury Laws Amendment (Fair and Sustainable Superannuation) Bill 2016 amends five acts including a $1.6 million cap on the amount of capital that can be transferred to the tax-free earnings retirement phase of superannuation.

The bill also proposes the reduction to the threshold at which high-income earners pay division 293 tax on their concessional taxed contribution to superannuation to $250,000.

Both houses have also passed Superannuation (Excess Transfer Balance Tax) Imposition Bill 2016 2016 which imposes an excess transfer balance tax on the notional earnings of capital moved into a retirement phase superannuation account that is in excess of $1.6 million.

SuperConcepts general manager of technical services and education Peter Burgess said having both houses pass the bills is good news in terms of having certainty of what the rules are, which will enable practitioners to sit down and fully assess the impact on their clients. 

“With a lot of the changes, we’ll have around seven months to get our heads around all these changes and put in place strategies and take opportunities and make sure clients are compliant,” Mr Burgess said.

“Practitioners can now properly sit down and properly plan with their clients.”