Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand superannuation leader Tony Negline says many details about the two changes relating to real estate and superannuation remain unknown.
Mr Negline said under the proposed scheme, individuals are able to make personal contributions that they personally claim, after tax contributions, and can also salary sacrifice.
One aspect that remains unclear, however, is what will happen in regards to employers who utilise their employee’s salary sacrificed amounts to satisfy their 9.5 per cent superannuation guarantee obligations.
“There is a small cohort of employers who, if you make a salary sacrifice contribution, they say ‘Well, that’s an employer contribution, therefore I don’t have to pay the super guarantee’. We don’t know quite how that’s going to work,” Mr Negline said.
CAANZ previously noted that employers are allowed to do this due to an anomaly in the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992.
Mr Negline said there were a whole range of other uncertainties that would also need to be determined by the government including situations where one partner in a couple has purchased a home and the other hasn’t, and the impact of different laws in different states.
“All those questions are going to have to be sorted out in time, hopefully in the not too distant future, because this thing gets up and running in July,” he said.
And why hasn’t the government fixed this anomaly yet? No doubt because it doesn’t bring them extra revenue and it’s only the workers affected.
From 1 July anyone who is eligible to contribute can claim a tax deduction for a personal super contribution. So if you wanted to participate in FHSSS you won’t need to salary sacrifice and face the problems described, just get your full wages, employer pays SG and you make a personal contribution and claim the tax deduction. Similar outcome.