The Federal Budget is an annual event, held on the first Tuesday in May. The Government announces how it is going to spend taxpayers’ money over the following 12 months, and whether it will have any money left over. The Government also uses the Federal Budget to make significant policy announcements in superannuation.
The following articles refer to Federal Budget and superannuation.
Superannuation contributions can be divided into two types — concessional (before-tax) and non-concessional (after-tax). Each type of super contribution is subject to a contributions cap (see table below). A contributions cap sets a limit on the amount of contributions you can make in any one year. If you exceed the cap, your excess contributions are [...]
Age Pensioners are set to receive three pay rises from 20 September 2009:
a one-off increase in the fortnightly single Age Pension payment of $60
additional increase due to the six-monthly indexation of Age Pension payments
a $2.49 per week (or $4.98 per fortnight) boost in the pension [...]
As a budding novelist, I love to read a good work of fiction, and on many levels, that’s an appropriate way to describe this latest Federal Budget – a fiction, or more precisely, an artifice. By treating the Budget as a work of fiction, I can then enjoy the parliamentary performance as a play on [...]
In a surprise Budget announcement, the Federal Government has flagged that the Age Pension age is set to increase to 67 years of age from 2023.
Currently, Australians can access the Age Pension at age 65 (for men) and from 63.5 years (for women, although the Age Pension age was moving to 65 for women from [...]
In one of the more sneaky Budget tricks conjured by the Government, the non-concessional contributions cap has been cut by $15,000 for the 2009/2010 year, and the bring forward cap cut by $45,000. (Non-concessional contributions are voluntary contributions not claimed as an income tax deduction by you or your employer.)
If you [...]
In the Federal Budget, the Government announced the extension of the drawdown relief provided for account-based pensions. What this means for individuals receiving superannuation income streams, is that for the 2009/2010 year, the minimum payment amounts for account-based pensions are to be halved.
In a recent article on SuperGuide, I wrote [...]
The highlight of the 2009/2010 Federal Budget is a $32 weekly increase in the single Age Pension.
From 20 September 2009, single pensioners can expect to see an extra $64.98 in their fortnightly Age Pension, which is a weekly increase of $32.49. This Age Pension increase is made up of an additional [...]
* Concessional contribution caps halved from July 2009
* Government co-contribution cut by a third from July 2009
Halving of concessional contributions cap
The Government just couldn’t resist tinkering with the superannuation rules. From 1 July 2009, the annual concessional (before-tax) contributions cap of $50,000 is to be halved to $25,000. While the transitional concessional cap for over-50s [...]
Hi - I'm Trish Power and I am the author of Superannuation For Dummies and many other books on super and investing.And guess what! This site, SuperGuide, is the only INDEPENDENT website for consumers on superannuation in Australia. Read more