The majority of Australian SMSF Members Association (ASMA) members believe the federal government’s decision to reduce tax concessions on super contributions for people over 50 will harm their retirement, a survey has found.
ASMA surveyed 200 members and found around 70 per cent said they believed the reduction would negatively impact on their retirement.
The remaining 30 per cent said it would not affect their retirement because they were already retired.
The survey also showed 80 per cent of members were unhappy with the government’s overall superannuation policy.
The government announced in the 2012 budget that it would drop tax concessions on contributions of up to $50,000 to $25,000 a year for people over 50 from July 2012.
“The government previously reduced the concessional contributions cap from $100,000 to $50,000 for over 50s and now it has reduced that to a further $25,000,” ASMA director Anna Carrabs said.
“That’s a 75 per cent reduction and it’s particularly significant for people over 50 years old as many are looking to make the most of their final years in the workforce to build a self-funded retirement nest egg.”
Carrabs said ASMA wanted the $50,000 cap for over 50s who had superannuation benefits of less than $500,000 to remain in place until July 2014 when the government planned to reinstate the $50,000 cap.
In other self-managed superannuation fund (SMSF) legislation news, Treasury officials confirmed the deferral of the proposed off-market transfer legislation, which was due to be introduced on 1 July.
Banning off-market transfers into SMSFs would mean funds could only acquire listed securities from members through a trading market.
