It was a long wait but it was worth it. A Bill has passed through Parliament in June allowing up to 6 SMSF members and those aged 65 and 66 can access the bring forward rule. There were also a few others measures that passed that are important which we will go through below.

6 member funds

Historically, SMSF’s have only been able to have up to four members. This can be limiting for some family groups. From 1 July 2021 this has now increased to six. With this change has come some great opportunities that may be right for you.

Financial advisors are hoping this increase will provide greater choice and flexibility within your SMSF and overall reduce fees for a family unit. The perpetuity of SMSF’s will be a lot simpler and large families can now all be members of the same SMSF. There may also be tax advantages when a pension fund adds accumulation members allowing for capital losses to be soaked up.

Bring forward rule

When the government increased the pension age to 67 it was argued that other age based thresholds should also be increased to allow for access to larger contribution caps. Firstly we saw the work test age limit increasing from 65 to 67 meaning members can make voluntary contributions to super without meeting the work test.

In addition to this SMSF members aged 66 and 67 can now access the bring forward rule allowing contributions up to $330,000 to be made in one year by bringing forward the next two year’s of contribution caps.

Other measures

A few other small changes were included in the Bill and have also passed:

• Ability to recontribute your COVID19 relief withdrawal without it counting towards the non-concessional cap (no tax deduction can be claimed)
• Removal of the excess contributions charge from 1 July 2021

Overall these changes allow greater flexibility for SMSF members and access to increased contributions for members aged 66 and 67.

Contact us here if you would like to learn more about those which you may benefit from.

This information has been prepared without taking into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Because of this, you should, before acting on this information, consider its appropriateness, having regard to your objectives, financial situation or needs.