Labor election win tipped to see 2 budgets in 2019
If the Labor Party wins the federal election, it’s possible that two budgets could be handed down in 2019, one from the Coalition in April and a second from Labor a few months later, says a technical expert.
Speaking to SMSF Adviser, SuperConcepts executive manager of SMSF technical and private wealth Graeme Colley said that the Coalition government has already announced that it will be handing down its budget on 2 April next year, with the election expected to be soon after, either in April or May.
“If there is a change in government, we may see a second budget handed down a few months later around May or June. That could cause some confusion for professionals trying to work out what’s going on,” Mr Colley said.
The second budget might be when Labor introduces its measures for franking credits and some of the other superannuation changes they’ve mentioned such as changes to the ability to claim deductions for personal super contributions, he said.
“There will be quite a few changes to think about if that does happen,” the executive manager said.
In the meantime, the SMSF industry is still waiting to see what happens to a range of measures that were announced by the Coalition Party, he said, including the three-year audit measure and the proposal to extend the total number of members allowed in an SMSF.
“Those are some examples of legislation that may or may not come in because, for two of those changes, we haven’t seen any movement in that area, we haven’t even seen bills for those,” Mr Colley 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.
