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Issue 119, 27th
January 2006
Welcome to the latest issue of Thomson’s
Tax & Accounting Insight, your free news service for tax
and accounting professionals.
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The Australian Democrats have welcomed reports that the
National Party is supporting the proposal for wage earners to be
able to forego putting in an annual tax return. Democrats Acting
Leader, Senator Andrew Bartlett, said simplifying the tax system
by making it optional for wage earners to put in tax returns was a
key plank of the Democrats’ tax platform at the last election.
The Democrats proposed that wage earners without other significant
sources of income could choose not to put in a tax return, and
instead receive a $100 refund. This would save enormously on
administrative costs and enable the Tax Office to focus its
efforts on those with more complex tax arrangements, Senator
Bartlett said.
This article first appeared in Thomson’s
Super News Alert, delivered two to three times a week to
specifically cover superannuation developments as they happen. It
is ideal for specialist practitioners who need to keep fully
up-to-date with the latest superannuation developments without
searching through large quantities of general tax news and
information. To find out more, call 1300 304 197.
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Superannuation assets hit $791 bn
at September 2005
Total superannuation assets grew 6.7% during the September 2005
quarter, bringing the overall value of superannuation assets to
$791.5 bn. That represents a 22.4% increase for the year to 30
September 2005.
APRA indicated that industry funds once again showed the
strongest growth during the quarter, with assets up 8.8% to $122.8
bn and retail fund assets grew by 6.4% to $263.8 bn. Public sector
fund assets grew by 5.9% to $135.9 bn, while corporate fund assets
rose 4.9% to $68.6 bn. Self-managed super fund (SMSF) assets grew
8.6% to $179.8 bn (representing 23% of total assets).
As at 30 September 2005, APRA’s statistics indicate that
there were 316,941 superannuation funds. Of these funds, 308,520
were SMSFs, representing a 1.6% increase for the quarter.
Over the September quarter, contributions to funds with at
least $50 m in assets were $13.7 bn, with employers contributing
$9.1 bn and members contributing $4.4 bn. Other contributions,
including spouse contributions and government co-contributions,
totalled $116 m.
The overall return on assets (ROA) was 5.3% for the September
2005 quarter, made up of corporate funds (5.9%), public sector
funds (5.7%), industry funds (5.3%) and retail funds (5%).
The quarterly superannuation performance statistics are
available on the APRA website — click
here
This article first appeared in Thomson’s
Super News Alert, delivered two to three times a week to
specifically cover superannuation developments as they happen. It
is ideal for specialist practitioners who need to keep fully
up-to-date with the latest superannuation developments without
searching through large quantities of general tax news and
information. To find out more, call 1300 304 197.
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Lost superannuation has blown out to $8.2 bn in 2004/05 (up
from $7.3 bn in 2003/04), according to the Shadow Minister for
Finance & Superannuation, Senator Nick Sherry. In addition,
the number of lost member accounts has risen to 5.4 million (up
from 4.9 million). As a result, Senator Sherry has called for lost
super accounts to be automatically rolled together using the
holder’s tax file number.
Shadow Minister for Finance &
Superannuation media release 12 January 2006
Thomson ATP comment: In November 2005, the Australian
National Audit Office released a report identifying several
shortcomings in the Tax Office’s administration of the
superannuation Lost Members Register (LMR). The Tax Office has also indicated that it intends
to write to 500,000 individuals whose superannuation fund has
reported them as ‘lost’ (i.e. uncontactable and no
contributions received in the past two years) and whose details
are on its Lost Members Register.
This article appeared in Thomson’s daily Latest
Tax News. With tax fast-moving and ever changing — every
day, practitioners rely on Thomson ATP’s daily Latest Tax
News for quick, accurate, comprehensive information — no
compromises. When you need to know what’s new in tax and related
news every day, there’s only one place to look — LTN. To find
out more, click
here.
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Thomson special offers and product alert
FBT Compliance Toolkit
This timesaving CD-ROM and supporting loose-leaf binder is all
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Click
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Online subscribers can also take advantage of the IFRS
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detailed summary of the new standards and how to apply them, and a
ready reckoner to help you compare old and new accounting standard
numbers.
Click
here for more information or call 1300 304 197.
Coming soon — Quick Fact Finder: Self-managed Superannuation Funds
This how-to guide is the faster way to find essential SMSF
information. Organised by subject with handy quick-find tabs, it
saves research time by consolidating the SMSF facts you need into
one detailed resource. Updated each year in July (approx.) in line
with post-Budget rate changes, it gives you practical signposts
towards effective SMSF management, including specialist
commentary, checklists, forms and worked examples.
Click
here for more information or call 1300 304 197.
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