The federal government’s catch-up carry-forward super measure began this week, giving those with broken work patterns, particularly women, a better chance to save for retirement.
From 1 July, millions of individuals with balances below $500,000 will be able to catch up on their retirement savings by accessing unused proportions of their concessional contributions cap.
These unused portions can be carried forward for five years to enable extra contributions from 2019/20 onwards, where people have the financial capacity to do so.
“The Turnbull government’s superannuation taxation reforms have given individuals, especially women, more control over their super savings and will support their economic security in retirement,” Revenue and Financial Services Minister Kelly O’Dwyer said today.
“This measure recognises the reality of modern careers.
“It will be of particular assistance to people who are absent from the workforce because of illness or injury, caring responsibilities or to undertake further study.”
O’Dwyer said the measure will make it easier for those with interrupted work patterns to save for retirement and benefit from the tax concessions commensurate with individuals who have a regular income.
“Shamefully, the Labor Party opposes this measure and would scrap it if they got the chance, preventing these people from being given the opportunity to boost their retirement savings,” she said.
She noted the measure completes the implementation of the comprehensive suite of measures in the 2016/17 budget aimed at improving the fairness and flexibility of the super system.
The measures, which also include the low-income superannuation tax offset, expanded eligibility for families to claim a spouse tax offset for contributions to the super of a low-income spouse and increased access to personal deductible super contributions, complement the government’s existing super co-contribution scheme, she said.
