Issued by authority of the Minister for Revenue
and Assistant Treasurer

Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992

Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Amendment Regulations 2007 (No. 1)

The Tax Laws Amendment (Simplified Superannuation) Act 2007 and related Acts give effect to the Simplified Superannuation reforms, announced in the Government’s 5 September 2006 statement A Plan to Simplify and Streamline Superannuation – Outcomes of Consultation. The reforms make superannuation easier to understand, improve incentives to work and save, and provide greater flexibility over how superannuation savings can be drawn down in retirement.

In particular, the Tax Laws Amendment (Simplified Superannuation) Act 2007 consolidates particular superannuation provider reporting requirements from various Acts into the Taxation Administration Act 1953 and consolidates and streamlines superannuation taxation laws into the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997.

Section 80 of the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992 (SG Act) provides that the Governor-General may make regulations prescribing matters required or permitted by the SG Act to be prescribed, or necessary or convenient to be prescribed, for carrying out or giving effect to the SG Act.

The purpose of the Regulations is to amend the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Regulations 1993 to replace redundant references, and reflect the repeal of the reporting requirements in sections 78 and 78A in the SG Act.

Details of the Regulations are set out in the Attachment A.

The SG Act specifies no conditions that need to be met before the power to make the Regulations may be exercised.

The Regulations commence on 1 July 2007.

The Regulations are legislative instruments for the purposes of the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.

ATTACHMENT A

Details of the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Amendment Regulations 2007 (No. 1)

Regulation 1 specifies the name of the Regulations as the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Amendment Regulations 2007 (No. 1)

Regulation 2 provides that the Regulations commence on 1 July 2007.

Subregulation 3(1) provides that Schedule 1 amends the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Regulations 1993 (SG Regulations).

Subregulation 3(2) provides that the amendments made by Schedule 1 apply in relation to a superannuation provider that receives employer contributions on or after 1 July 2007.

Subregulation 3(3) provides that the amendments made by items 1 and 2 of Schedule 1 apply in relation to the 2007-08 year of income and each subsequent year of income.

Schedule 1 – Amendments

Item 1

Item 1 amends the definition of TR in subregulation 6(1) to replace ‘standard component’ with the concept of ‘low tax component’. This is a consequential amendment resulting from the rewrite of Part IX of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 into the Income Tax Assessment  Act 1997 as part of the Simplified Superannuation reforms.

In the process of the rewrite of Part IX the concept of ‘standard component’ for complying superannuation funds was replaced with that of ‘low tax component’, and therefore the concept wherever used in the regulations also needs to be updated to reflect this change.

Item 2

The Superannuation Legislation Amendment (Simplification) Act 2007 repeals section 27AB of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936.

Item 2 amends paragraph 6(2)(d) of the SG Regulations, to replace the reference to a “taxed element” within the meaning of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 to the new concept and reference in the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 - the “element taxed in the fund of the taxable component”.

Item 3

The Tax Laws Amendment (Simplified Superannuation) Act 2007 consolidates superannuation entity reporting provisions in Division 390 of Schedule 1 to the Taxation Administration Act 1953. Consequently, it also repeals the current reporting provisions in sections 78 and 78A of the SG Act.

Regulations 16 and 17 of the SG Regulations set out the information to be included by a superannuation provider in a statement to the Commissioner of Taxation, or where amounts are transferred to another superannuation provider, in a statement to that superannuation provider, on the employer contributions received in that year. These Regulations support sections 78 and 78A of the SG Act.

Item 3 omits regulations 16 and 17 of the SG Regulations to the effect that they do not apply to a superannuation provider that has received employer contributions on or after 1 July 2007. Regulations 16 and 17 of the SG Regulations still apply to a superannuation provider that has received employer contributions on or after 1 July 2005 and before 1 July 2007. This is consistent with the repeal of sections 78 and 78A of the SG Act under the Simplified Superannuation reforms.