Trustees still puzzled by transitional bring forward rules
SMSF trustees in some cases are still trying to contribute up to $540,000 in non-concessional contributions where they only triggered the bring-forward rule in 2016-17, says a technical expert.
Australian Executor Trustees senior technical services manager Julie Steed said while everyone is pretty clear on the fact that the maximum non-concessional contributions cap is $300,000 where the three-year bring-forward was triggered from 1 July 2017, it’s the earlier years where there’s still confusion.
“For members who triggered it in 2014-15, 2015-16 or 2016-17 financial years, there’s a lack of understanding of how those transitional provisions work,” Ms Steed said.
There’s a lot more to it than what people think in some instances, she said, so it’s important that practitioners sit down and look at every individual case they’ve got.
“We’ve already seen instances where people have triggered the three-year bring-forward rule for the 2016-17 year, and have contributed $400,000 and they think because they triggered it in 2016-17 that they can put up to the $540,000, and it’s clear that they can’t,” she said.
“There are other areas of confusion for previous years as well.”
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.