Hello Fellow Super Enthusiasts!

It’s good to see that the Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Financial Services and Superannuation, Bill Shorten, released the Inspector-General of Taxation’s Review into the ATO admin of the SG Charge report last week. In a nutshell, the review looked at the ins and outs of the ATO’s administration of the SG charge and also the level of employer non-payment of super.

Surprise, surprise! The review found that those most at risk of not getting their super paid were also the least empowered to push the issue – casuals, low paid workers and younger workers. This is a pretty nasty problem given that we know a 9% SG doesn’t produce a comfortable retirement. So, not getting your entitlement at all just compounds the problem even further.

Anyway, before I get distracted and start ranting about equity, inefficiency, behavioural shifts etc, I want to talk about unpaid contributions.

The report states that at least $600 million of unpaid super contributions are still outstanding. This is a ridiculous amount, especially when we know that implementing Superstream will involve costs and contributions tax on $600 million. Contributions tax on even half that amount would certainly help. Let’s do the sums. Where is my slide ruler….ah ha! So, $600m at 15% contributions tax is $90m which sounds pretty good to me and even if only half the amount was recovered, that’s still $45m!

Through better use of the TFN, the industry can assist members in keeping employers honest (oh, I know most employers are honest, it’s just those that are not which give everyone else a bad reputation) and that way, this problem won’t keep escalating at such a rapid rate.

I haven’t finished reading all 111 pages yet….I have been busy shaving my mo after my effort in Movember. If you have read it, or even parts of it, I would very much like to hear your thoughts!

Yours in Super

Hans