“The superannuation system in Australia must continue to reflect the developing circumstances of Australians and change to accommodate those needs. Clarity is needed on a range of superannuation measures.”

One of those measures is the Division 296 tax, which Jacobson said is “poorly designed and sets a dangerous precedent by including taxing unrealised gains”.

“The Tax Institute has made multiple submissions to the government with other preferable alternatives to the proposed approach, including to index the threshold,” she said.

“This proposed measure in its original form continues to hang over the heads of Australian taxpayers, without certainty of how it will affect them and their retirement. Fundamental changes are needed to better ensure equitable outcomes before further progress can be made.”

One of the other major concerns the Tax Institute has is the lack of movement on promised changes to the regulations regarding residency requirements for self-managed superannuation funds.

Jacobson explained that as part of the 2021–22 federal budget, the government proposed to relax residency requirements for SMSFs by extending the central management and control test safe harbour from two to five years and removing the active member test for both SMSFs and APRA-regulated funds.

“These plans were deferred as part of the October federal budget 2022–23 and no progress has been made since then,” she said.

“Extending the central management and control test safe harbour to five years would allow SMSF members to continue contributing to their own funds even when overseas. Abolishing the active member test would also level the playing field to align the treatment of SMSFs with APRA-regulated funds.”

Additionally, the institute has concerns over the Payday Super regime requiring employers to pay their employees’ superannuation at the same time as salaries and wages, which is slated to begin on 1 July 2026.

Exposure drafts of the enabling legislation were released only a week ago, and already there have been concerns raised about unintended consequences.

“We support the policy underpinning the measure and coinciding overdue reforms to the penalty provisions,” Jacobson said.

“We encourage continuing consultation by government, but time has run out for digital service providers to design software with the certainty of a legislated framework before the May election. The proposed start date of 1 July 2026 will likely need to be deferred so that employers have time to meet their proposed new obligations.”

She added that employers and their tax agents, as well as superannuation funds and other intermediaries essential to the payroll cycle, require certainty to prepare for and implement the significant changes associated with Payday Super.