For as long as Rollover can remember, some sections of the media have been writing about superannuation being a tax rort for high income earners. In terms of anti-superannuation stories it has become a “hardy annual”.
And the truth is that, in the past, the tax and regulatory structures did give rise to people holding multi-million dollar balances but those who believe this continues to be the case have significantly under-estimated the revenue-appetite of successive Federal Governments.
And you know that times are tough when it is the accountants who are complaining about the erroneous nature of reports about multi-million dollar balances.
CPA Australia wants no one to be misled about super millionaires, declaring: “Discussion in the media of the handful of superannuation accounts with balances over $100 million ignores the reality that due to the imposition of the transfer balance cap, only a maximum of $1.6 million can remain in the pension phase of superannuation”.
“It also disregards the reality that current high balances are an aberration which will wash out of the system as the limit to contributions via the total superannuation balance limit increasingly has an effect.”
Rollover feels sure that while CPA Australia has laid out the facts, those facts will not stand in the way of the next superannuation millionaire horror story.
Last time I looked a millionaire was someone with $1m or more not $100m or more. There are thousands of the former in super and the first $1.6m is tax free (but can easily be tax negative if there are Australian shares in the mix). The balance is heavily tax concessional at max 15%.
These are the simple facts Rollover. CPA’s “facts” are aimed at the “no story here” approach to what is a rort for us better off and a rip off for the poorer Aussies