SMSFs told to review salary sacrificing arrangements
Switching from salary sacrificing arrangements to personal deductible contributions may be beneficial for certain clients and enable them to better monitor contribution levels, says a technical expert.
Perpetual Private’s head of strategic advice Colin Lewis says clients who have salary sacrificing arrangements in place need to review their levels of contributions now that the lower $25,000 concessional contribution is in place.
“They need to ensure that they don’t over-contribute so they really need to review their salary sacrificing arrangements straightaway,” Mr Lewis said.
These clients also need to consider whether making salary sacrificing arrangements is the best strategy.
“Will they continue using salary sacrifice or [switch to] personal deductible contributions because, in some ways, doing your own contribution or claiming a tax deduction gives you more flexibility and more control,” Mr Lewis said.
“[For example,] if you’re normally making contributions through salary sacrifice on a fortnightly or monthly basis, you could put that little bit of extra cash into a mortgage offset and at the end of the year, put in the exact amount of contributions between your SG and your cap.
“So there are a couple of things to think about there in terms of the level of contributions being made and how contributions are going to be made.”
Miranda Brownlee
Miranda Brownlee is the deputy editor of SMSF Adviser, which is the leading source of news, strategy and educational content for professionals working in the SMSF sector.
Since joining the team in 2014, Miranda has been responsible for breaking some of the biggest superannuation stories in Australia, and has reported extensively on technical strategy and legislative updates.
Miranda also has broad business and financial services reporting experience, having written for titles including Investor Daily, ifa and Accountants Daily.