65,000 Australians exceed super cap

In response to a Senate question by Shadow Assistant Treasurer Mathais Corman, Bill Shorten, Federal Assistant Treasurer, disclosed the numbers which show a dramatic increase in Australian’s who breached the concessional contribution cap for the 2009 – 10 financial year.

It was found during the last financial year 65,733 people breached the cap in comparison to only 28,291 who did in the previous year, this is a 75.6% increase over one financial year.

For those over age 50 in the 2009 – 10 financial year the Government reduced the concessional contribution cap from $100,000 to $50,000. This was going to be halved again to $25,000 but the Federal Government decided to leave it unchanged for those with less than $500,000 saved for retirement.

Senator Corman said the super change was quite “unexpected” and, as a result of this, many people were accidentally caught out.

Those breaching non-concessional contribution caps can be hit by a excess tax rate which can be as high as 93%.

For more information on the contribution caps and thresholds visit http://www.ato.gov.au/super/content.asp?doc=/content/60489.htm&page=2&H2