The Federal Government has introduced the legislation which will finally deliver on its 2004 election promise on superannuation splitting.

The Assistant Treasurer, Mal Brough announced that the legislation had been introduced to the Parliament yesterday noting that they contained two important amendments to earlier drafts - that splitting will be voluntary on superannuation funds and that the start date will be brought forward to January 1, next year.

He said the earlier start date meant that contributions could be made on or after that date would be eligible to split.

Brough said the regulations would maintain the annual split model which meant that at the end of each financial year a superannuation fund member can request that contributions made in the previous year can be split with their spouse.

According to the explanatory memorandum prepared by the Treasury, split contributions will take the form of a transfer, roll-over or allotment of a member’s benefit to their spouse, with the amount to be split limited to the total of the contributions made in the previous year.

It said the superannuation fund would then give effect to the request by transferring the relevant amount from the member’s account to an account for the spouse in either the same fund or a different fund.

The explanatory memorandum makes clear that superannuation funds cannot be compelled to offer the service to members but can offer it as a service.