4 May 2004

Amendments to Super Co-contribution Regulations Open for Public Comment

Draft amending regulations which give effect to the Government’s superannuation co-contribution for low income earners measure have been released for public comment, Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer, Senator Helen Coonan announced today.

“Under the co-contribution measure workers earning up to $27,500, who make eligible personal superannuation contributions on or after 1 July 2003, will have those contributions matched dollar for dollar to a maximum of $1,000 annually,” Senator Coonan said.

“Workers earning up to $40,000 will also benefit from a reduced Government co-contribution.”

The draft regulations contain amendments to the Superannuation (Government Co-contribution for Low Income Earners) Regulations 2004 and a minor technical amendment to the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulations 1994.

The regulations detail the payment destination rules that the Commissioner of Taxation will use to determine where to pay a Government co-contribution, for example in the case where a member has multiple accounts.

“This set of draft regulations is expected to be gazetted before 30 June 2004,” Senator Coonan said.

“This will ensure the rules are in place prior to the first co-contribution payments becoming payable in the 2004-05 financial year.”

The draft regulations can be found at www.treasury.gov.au. Comments on the draft regulations are invited from interested parties up until 19 May 2004 and can be made to superannuation@treasury.gov.au.