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March 2024During the month of February, the bill containing the Government’s proposed changes to the Stage 3 tax cuts passed both houses and received Royal Assent. The Government also announced that it intends to amend the Paid Parental Leave Scheme by introducing superannuation contributions to the payments. Also of note is the release of the Average Weekly Ordinary Time Earnings (AWOTE) figure for the December 2023 quarter, which triggered indexation of the concessional and non-concessional contribution caps. | View article |
February 2024During December 2023 and January 2024, the Government introduced a bill to Parliament to implement its proposed changes to the Stage 3 tax cuts and released draft legislation seeking feedback on minor amendments to the education requirements for financial advisers. Other items of note include an extension to the deadline by which financial advisers must be registered with ASIC. | View article |
December 2023During the month of November, the Government released draft legislation seeking industry feedback on the first tranche of the Delivering Better Financial Outcomes package of reforms, together with a detailed overview of its roadmap for financial advice reform. In other news, legislation was passed to implement changes in relation to the ASIC financial adviser register and amendments to the tax treatment of off-market share buy-backs. | View article |
November 2023During the month of October, the Government released a Consultation Paper seeking industry feedback on its proposal to regulate crypto and digital assets by imposing additional requirements on crypto exchanges and digital asset platforms. In other news, a Bill was introduced to Parliament which, if passed, would implement two changes to social security that would affect pension and income support recipients. | View article |
October 2023Since the last roundup, the Government released a consultation paper seeking feedback on reforms addressing unpaid employer superannuation guarantee contributions, and released draft legislation to introduce an additional tax on earnings for superannuation balances over $3 million. The Government also announced its intention to make two changes to social security that would affect pension and income support recipients. In other news, ASIC announced an extension to the date by which financial advisers are required to be registered. | View article |
September 2023During the month of August, social security measures announced in the 2023-24 Federal Budget passed both houses and received Royal Assent. Legislation including changes to the First Home Super Saver Scheme and recognising experience in the financial adviser industry was also passed, and now awaits Royal Assent. Other items of note include Treasury’s release of exposure draft legislation seeking feedback on the objective of superannuation. | View article |
August 2023During the month of July, APRA released for consultation its proposal to remake the Financial Claims Scheme Prudential Standard, and the Government released a consultation paper seeking feedback on a new individual tax residency framework. Other items of note include a media release by AFCA summarising the total number of complaints received for the 2022-23 financial year and details of the areas the complaints relate to. | View article |
July 2023During the month of June, the Government released its response to the Quality of Advice Review aimed at making high quality financial advice more accessible and affordable. Another item of note includes the introduction of a Bill to Parliament which contained proposals to better recognise the experience of existing financial advisers as well as address technical limitations in the current financial advice framework. | View article |
June 2023During the month of May 2023, the Government handed down the 2023–24 Federal Budget, but the measures announced are unlikely to have a significant effect on the provision of financial advice. Other notable developments include an announcement by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) confirming that the 50% reduction in the minimum pension drawdown rate for account based pensions and similar products will no longer apply for the 2023–24 financial year. | View article |
May 2023During April, the Government released an exposure draft of proposed legislation and sought industry feedback on reforms to the financial adviser education standards. Another item of note includes the release of draft legislation by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) aimed at rectifying a technical issue relating to the work test. | View article |
April 2023During March, the Government released a consultation paper seeking industry feedback on its proposal to introduce an additional 15 per cent tax rate on earnings on superannuation balances above $3 million from 1 July 2025. Another item of note includes the passage of the Paid Parental Leave Amendment (Improvements for Families and Gender Equality) Act 2023 (Cth) which implements several measures aimed at making parental leave more accessible, flexible and gender neutral. | View article |
March 2023During February, the Government released the Quality of Advice – Final Report which contained 22 recommendations aimed at making high quality financial advice accessible and affordable. Another item of note includes the release of a consultation paper seeking industry feedback on the Government’s proposal to enshrine an objective of superannuation in law. | View article |
February 2023During the December 2022 and January 2023 period the Government released a consultation paper seeking industry feedback on its proposed amendments to the non-arm’s length income (NALI) provisions which apply to superannuation funds. Another item of note includes the release of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) figure for the December 2022 quarter, which triggers indexation of the general transfer balance cap from $1.7 million to $1.9 million from 1 July 2023. | View article |
December 2022During November, several Bills were passed by both houses of Parliament and have received or are awaiting Royal Assent. Some of these measures include a reduction to the downsizer contribution eligibility age from age 60 to 55, changes to the Child Care Subsidy and providing an exemption to fringe benefits tax for certain electric cars. Other items of note include the release of a Practical Compliance Guideline by the ATO, which proposed a new method for calculating tax deductions for work-from-home expenses. | View article |
November 2022During October, the Government handed down the October 2022 Federal Budget which included a five-point plan aimed at providing cheaper child care, cheaper medicines, expanding the paid parental leave scheme, more affordable housing and measures to increase wages. Other items of note include the passage of legislation which increases the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card income thresholds for singles and couples.
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October 2022During September, the Government released several Bills aimed at implementing the Financial Accountability Regime (FAR) and Financial Services Compensation Scheme of Last Resort. Other items of note include the release of a Consultation Paper aimed at reviewing four key elements of the Your Future, Your Super measures, such as the MySuper performance test, the YourSuper Comparison tool, stapling and the best financial interest duty imposed on superannuation trustees. | View article |
September 2022During August, the Government released the Quality of Advice – Proposals Paper which contained several proposals aimed at making financial advice more accessible and affordable. Other items of note include a Bill that was passed in both houses in the Parliament of Western Australia and is currently awaiting assent that will allow separating de facto couples to split their superannuation when a relationship breakdown occurs. | View article |
August 2022During July, the Government introduced several bills which widen the eligibility for the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC), provide an exemption to fringe benefit tax (FBT) for electric cars and amend regulations to allow individuals in certain superannuation income streams to make commutations to manage their excess transfer balance cap whilst retaining their asset-test exemptions. Other items of note include a media release by AFCA summarising the total number of complaints received for the 2021-22 financial year and a snapshot of the areas the complaints relate to. | View article |
July 2022During June, ASIC released its draft Cost Recovery Implementation Statement detailing ASIC’s estimated regulatory costs and its proposal to recover the costs for the 2021-22 financial year. Other items of note include the ATO’s announcement to extend the non-arm’s length provisions by 12 months, and ASIC’s warning to superannuation trustees on their communication to members in products that underperformed ASIC’s Performance Test. | View article |
June 2022During May, the leader of the Labor party, Anthony Albanese was sworn in as Australia's 31st Prime Minister following the federal election. A number of policy proposals relevant to the financial services industry were made as part of the election, however draft legislation is yet to be introduced to parliament. The Government and APRA released a discussion paper seeking feedback on the proposed financial institutions supervisory levy for the 2022-23 financial year, and AFCA permanently adopted the 'merit assessment' feature, which makes the complaints handling process faster, cheaper and fairer for all parties. | View article |
May 2022During April, the Prime Minister announced the date of the election (21 May 2022) and resultant proroguing of the Parliament. The Government is now in caretaker mode and all bills and other business matters introduced to Parliament will need to be reintroduced to the next Parliament. Other items of note include ASIC’s release of a legislative instrument which provides an exemption to the financial adviser qualification requirements for existing advice providers meeting certain criteria (e.g. on a career break). | View article |
April 2022 During March, the Government handed down its 2022 Federal Budget which includes an increase to the low to middle income tax offset and an extension of the halving of the minimum pension payment requirements. Other items of note include the release of the Quality of Advice Review – Issues Paper. The review will look into how the regulatory framework could better enable the provision of high quality, accessible and affordable advice. | View article |
March 2022 During February, a Bill containing several superannuation and tax proposals passed both houses and received Royal assent. Other items include the release of new guidelines against cybercrime by the ATO and the TPB to help tax practitioners verify their clients identity, thereby reducing the risk of identity theft and tax fraud. | View article |
February 2022 During December 2021 and January 2022, the Government released a Policy Paper seeking feedback on the education standards for financial advisers, proposing recognition of on-the-job experience. | View article |
December 2021 Over the past month, FASEA released a consultation paper seeking feedback to amend Standard 3 of the Financial Planner and Adviser Code of Ethics 2019 regarding conflicts of interest. | View article |
November 2021 Over the past month, the Financial Sector Reform (Hayne Royal Commission Response—Better Advice) Act 2021 received Royal Assent, which expands the role of the Financial Services and Credit Panel, introduces a new registration system for financial advisers and more. | View article |
October 2021 During September, the Paid Parental Leave Amendment (COVID-19 Work Test) Act 2021 received Royal Assent, which increases the accessibility of the COVID-19 Disaster Payments. Other items of note include the extension of SMSF COVID-19 relief measures for the 2019/20 and 2020/21 financial years. | View article |
September 2021 During August, several regulations were registered to finalise the Your Future, Your Super reforms. Other items of note include the release of APRA’s inaugural MySuper Product Performance Test results. | View article |
August 2021 During July, Treasury released exposure draft legislation to implement recommendations from the Royal Commission into Misconduct in the Banking, Superannuation and Financial Services Industry. | View article |
July 2021 In June, in addition to the introduction of the Better Advice Bill, new legislation was passed to extend the bring forward rule for non-concessional contributions, increase the maximum allowable members in a self-managed superannuation fund, and the implementation of Your Future, Your Super measures. | View article |