SG to be paid for over-70s from July 2013

From July 2013, eligible employees who are 70 years or older will receive Superannuation Guarantee (SG) payments from employers. The current SG rules stop SG entitlements when an employee turns 70 years of age.

SuperGuide is proud to take credit for the positive influence that our regular reporting has had in highlighting the unfair treatment of older workers. We believe our ongoing publication of this issue has contributed to a win for Australians choosing to work into their seventies and even into their eighties.

Clearly, we are not the only ones who believed that denying individuals Superannuation Guarantee payments when choosing to work beyond age 69 was discriminatory. According to Minister for Superannuation, Bill Shorten, his decision to remove the age limit for Superannuation Guarantee was due to peer group pressure. He says: “As a result of strong representations from members of the Labor caucus and cross-bench, including Yvette D’Ath, Shayne Neumann, Deb O’Neill, Michelle Rowland, Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor, I have decided there will be no age limit for superannuation guarantee contributions (Media Release No 146, 2 November 2011)”.

The original plan by the Government (announced as part of the Government’s response to the Henry Tax Review) was to increase the age for SG entitlement to 74, from the current age of 69. Due to intense lobbying by the MPs mentioned above, Minister Shorten has totally removed the upper age limit for SG entitlements.

Note: Until the rules change from July 2013, individuals aged 70 to 74 are currently able to make voluntary concessional (before-tax) or non-concessional (after-tax)

Background: For a sample of previous SuperGuide articles about SG discrimination for older workers, check out the links below:

• Mr Shorten, Here’s your superannuation to-do list
• No SG for over-70s: now, that’s not fair