Tax and Structures

The assessable income of a super fund generally includes all types of income from its investments such as interest, dividends, rent and capital gains.

However, it also includes concessional contributions received on behalf of its members, which includes all contributions the member or employer making the contribution claims as a tax deduction.

This is why they are known as taxable contributions and therefore incur contributions tax of 15% (increasing to 30% for individuals with income greater than $250,000) when received by the super fund. Any contribution tax is withheld by the super fund and forwarded to the ATO.

Some of the main types of concessional contributions are:

• where your employer contributes 11% of your salary to super on your behalf (known as the compulsory super guarantee contribution)
• where your employer contributes additional amounts to super on your behalf (known as salary sacrifice contributions)
• where you make voluntary personal contributions and claim a tax deduction for a personal superannuation contribution you make. Those members aged 67 to 74 will need to satisfy a work test if they wish to claim a personal superannuation deduction for their contribution. The work test is defined as having been gainfully employed for at least 40 hours over a period of not more than 30 consecutive days in the financial year.