Vital SMSF bills pass both houses
Both houses of Parliament have passed a bill containing various amendments to the government’s suite of superannuation taxation reforms, including changes to transition to retirement income streams and limited recourse borrowing arrangements.
Treasury Laws Amendment (2017 Measures No. 2) Bill 2017 has today reached passage through both the House of Representatives and the Senate and makes changes to measures enacted through the Treasury Laws Amendment (Fair and Sustainable Superannuation) Act 2016.
Minister for revenue and financial services Kelly O’Dwyer said the bill will support the integrity of the new transfer balance cap by “including a repayment of a borrowing under a limited recourse borrowing arrangement in the cap in certain circumstances”.
Amendments contained in the bill also relax the prohibition on TRISs ever being in the retirement phase. As a result, a TRIS will now be in the retirement phase if the member has satisfied a condition of release with a nil cashing restriction.
The reforms, Ms O’Dwyer said will also ensure recipients of an existing structured settlement or personal injury order do not pay tax on their superannuation income streams as originally intended.
“As part of this Bill, the Government has also refined changes to personal and corporate insolvency law made by the Insolvency Law Reform Act 2016. This change will reduce legal complexity, increase certainty for insolvency practitioners and remove unnecessary costs from insolvency proceedings,” she said.
Miranda Brownlee
Miranda Brownlee is the deputy editor of SMSF Adviser, which is the leading source of news, strategy and educational content for professionals working in the SMSF sector.
Since joining the team in 2014, Miranda has been responsible for breaking some of the biggest superannuation stories in Australia, and has reported extensively on technical strategy and legislative updates.
Miranda also has broad business and financial services reporting experience, having written for titles including Investor Daily, ifa and Accountants Daily.
