The two bills that will implement the Division 296 tax have passed through parliament and will come into effect on 1 July after debate on them was curtailed in the Senate yesterday.
The Treasury Laws Amendment (Building a Stronger and Fairer Super System) Bill 2026 and Superannuation (Building a Stronger and Fairer Super System) Imposition Bill 2026 were passed by the House of Representative on 5 March after being introduced on 11 February.
Their progress through the upper house was much quicker after being introduced, debated and voted on in a single day following a guillotine motion put forward by the Greens yesterday morning, drawing debate to a close at 7:30pm, leading to a vote.
Minor amendments were rejected in that process with both bills receiving Senate approval just before 8pm, with the bills now only requiring Royal Assent to become law.
Regulations that describe the operation of parts of the new laws have yet to be released.
Commenting on the passage of the bills, which also included changes to the Low Income Super Tax Offset, Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the new laws mean “more super for workers on low incomes and more sustainable tax breaks for people with the biggest balances”.
“Our policy to better target super concessions for large balances will continue to affect less than 0.5 per cent of all Australians in 2026/27,” Chalmers added.
He flagged the likely progress of the bills yesterday when the Greens confirmed their support for them without amendment.
“We welcome this development and thank the Greens for their constructive engagement on this bill,” he said at the time.
