Peter Burgess, CEO of the SMSF Association, told SMSF Adviser he would be heading back to Canberra next Tuesday to once again rally support from the crossbench to try and push through amendments relating to the taxing of unrealised gains and the lack of indexation.
“The bill is due for debate on Thursday, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will be as we have seen, as there can be last-minute changes to the schedule,” Burgess said.
He said he has arranged to meet with independent MP Allegra Spender and is currently in the process of firming up meetings with the other crossbenchers who have thrown their support behind the push for amendments.
“We plan to meet as many as we can to talk about strategy and how we proceed with putting up the amendments as the crossbench senators who are supporting these amendments can’t put up the same ones,” he said.
“We will be discussing who will put up what and when, but the most important thing is to make sure we are still in the same tent.”
Burgess said he met with the office of independent MP Lidia Thorpe last week.
“Her office seemed to be interested in aspects of the bill and could see the issues we have raised that are of concern,” he said.
“We have not heard anything from Treasury and are not aware of any discussions the government may have had with the crossbench, but as it currently stands, it doesn’t seem to have numbers in the Senate to get the bill through without amendments.”
One of the issues that the bill does not consider is that a husband and wife may have less than $3m in their superannuation fund but if one passes away and leaves their superannuation to their spouse – then the spouse may well have more than $3m in their superannuation at that time. Also, the proposed legislation does not provide any leeway for a single person – a married couple may have up to $6m in their fund but a single person up to $3m. I believe there should be a move to allow a single person to have more than $3m and, as a suggestion, it could be $4.5m. This policy is similar to allowances for married and single pensioners.