The Federal Government’s superannuation-based First Home Super Saver Scheme (FHSS) has experienced relatively modest take-up since it came into effect from 1 July, according to data provided by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
ATO officials have told a recent superannuation industry roadshow that between 1 July and 6 August this year, 1,449 FHSS determinations were made and 592 people requested a release of their FHSS amount.
It said that in the same period, the ATO issued 498 release authorities to super funds totalling $5,341,856.18 and that this equated to an average requested release amount of about $10,727.
The ATO said it had received and processed 185 release authority statements from funds, totalling $2,074,533.15 with 61 applicants having been identified as potential credit offset candidates and 17 financial hardship applications having been lodged.
It said the hardship provision allowed people to apply for the FHSS scheme if they had lost all property interests as a result of a hardship event including bankruptcy and divorce. Of these applications, eight had been approved and six disallowed.
