10 February 2022

Parliament passes legislation to drive investment and support first home buyers

Note

Joint media release with
The Hon Josh Frydenberg MP
Treasurer

The Morrison Government has today passed through the Parliament the Treasury Laws Amendment (Enhancing Superannuation Outcomes For Australians and Helping Australian Businesses Invest) Bill 2021 which will allow businesses to continue investing in their future and help Australians get into their own home.

The passage of the Bill will help more Australians own their first home by increasing the maximum amount of voluntary contributions that could be released under the First Home Super Saver Scheme (FHSSS) from $30,000 to $50,000. Since 1 July 2018, 26,800 new home buyers have released $371 million dollars’ worth of savings under the FHSSS.

The Bill will also increase the flexibility for older Australians to contribute to their superannuation by reducing the eligibility age for making downsizer contributions into superannuation from 65 to 60 years of age. This will allow more older Australians to consider downsizing to homes that better meet their needs, increasing the supply of larger homes for young families. From 1 July 2018 to the end of January 2022, 36,800 individuals have contributed $8.9 billion to their superannuation under this measure.

The passage of the Bill will also extend the Government’s temporary full expensing regime by 12 months to 30 June 2023, to further support businesses to invest, grow and create more jobs.

The temporary full expensing measure announced in the 2020‑21 Budget allows businesses with aggregated turnover of less than $5 billion to deduct the full cost of eligible depreciable assets in the year they are first used or installed and applies to over 99 per cent of businesses, employing approximately 11.5 million workers.

The Government’s unprecedented business investment incentives will provide businesses more than $50 billion in tax relief and support around $320 billion worth of investment. This has seen a significant upgrade in the investment outlook with new business investment forecast to increase 16 per cent over the next two years at its fastest rate since 2011-12 during the height of the mining investment boom.

The Bill and explanatory material are available on the Parliament of Australia website.

Through these measures, the Morrison Government is helping businesses drive more investment, create more jobs and further support our economic recovery from COVID‑19.