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One of the benefits of retirement is that you can start to withdraw your superannuation tax-free. That doesn’t mean it’s a rule-free zone.
How are super pensions taxed?
Provided your super pension complies with the annual minimum payment requirements, there is no tax payable on either the income you receive or earnings (including capital gains) on the investments supporting the pension.
However, if you fail to withdraw the required minimum, pension income and assets will lose their tax-free status for the full financial year and all withdrawals will be treated as lump sums. Lump sums generally include taxed and tax-free components.
If you fail to make the minimum payments one year but comply the following year, the tax benefits will be reinstated but you will need to start a new pension. To start a new pension, the fund trustee will need to revalue pension assets at market value and recalculate the minimum pension payment.
The Tax Commissioner may show leniency and allow an income stream to continue if certain conditions are met. If the failure to pay the minimum pension amount was an honest mistake resulting in a small underpayment, or outside the control of the trustee, and a catch-up payment is made within 28 days of becoming aware of the oversight, the income stream may continue without needing to be restarted. If the income stream was in retirement phase, there will be no loss of tax exemptions for the year the oversight occurred. A small underpayment is deemed to be not more than one twelfth of the annual minimum.
If you have an SMSF paying more than one pension, both need to meet the minimum payment requirements. If one pension complies and the other fails to pay the annual minimum amount, only that one will need to apply for leniency or lose its tax exemptions.
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Tax and Transition to Retirement pensions
The taxation of Transition to Retirement (TTR) pensions is a little different. Since 1 July 2017, if your TTR pension is not in retirement phase then earnings on assets supporting the pension are taxed at 15%. Income remains tax-free.
Retirement phase (previously called pension phase) refers to the period when a super fund pays a super income stream, and the earnings on those pension assets are tax-free.
If your TTR pension pays out less than the annual minimum then the above exceptions may apply, but there are no exceptions if it pays more than the maximum payment, which is 10% of the fund balance.
Pension strategies to reduce tax
In some cases, there may be tax benefits in the timing and amount of pension income and lump sum withdrawals in pension phase.
This is especially so for SMSFs since the changes to the tax exempt (Exempt Current Pension Income or ECPI) rules, where at least one fund member has an amount in retirement phase that is being drawn as an income stream and an amount in accumulation phase.
The three strategies below are based on the minimum pension drawdown amounts prior to the temporary halving of the rates on 22 March 2020. Before embarking on any of these or any other strategies to reduce tax we recommend you seek independent professional advice.
The bottom line
The good news is that there is no tax payable on either the income you receive from your superannuation pension or earnings (including capital gains) on the investments supporting the pension, provided you comply with the annual minimum payment requirements. These minimum drawdown amounts have been halved temporarily for the 2019/20 and 2020/21 financial years, so you may need to seek independent financial advice on the strategies that will provide the best after-tax outcome for your circumstances.
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