1 June 2007

Tax Office helping business prepare for better super

The Hon Peter Dutton MP, Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer, today announced that the Tax Office is writing to around 740,000 employers to advise them how the Better Super changes will benefit them.

“Employers will receive a letter and a fact sheet explaining the Better Super changes in the next fortnight.” 

“Better Super is about making Super easier to understand for employers, employees and the self employed.”

“From 1 July 2007, all employer contributions to complying superannuation funds will be fully tax deductible.  Employers will no longer need to worry about age-based deduction limits which meant that the tax deductions they could claim depended on the age of their employee.”

“Employers will also no longer need to report termination payments to the ATO for Reasonable Benefit Limit purposes.  This is one less form that employers need to worry about,” Mr Dutton said.

The Better Super reforms also deliver significant benefits to the self-employed.  From 1 July 2007, the self-employed will be able to claim a full deduction for personal contributions to superannuation.  The highly successful Government co-contribution scheme will also be extended to the self employed.  

“It is also important that employers are aware of their obligation to pass on the Tax File Numbers of employees who start working after 1 July 2007 to their superannuation fund,” Mr Dutton said. 

Before the new arrangements, employers were only required to pass on an employee’s Tax File Number if they ticked the relevant box on their Tax file number declaration.  The new requirement does not affect existing employees.

"The Government is working to make sure that Better Super is an easier process to understand all round" Mr Dutton said.