SuperInformation information for March 2026

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Division 296 tax modifications cross via parliament

The Albanese Government’s controversial discount of tax concessions for people with a brilliant steadiness of greater than $3 million has lastly handed via each homes of parliament, together with a lift to the low-income superannuation tax offset (LISTO).

The Senate handed each the Treasury Laws Amendment (Building a Stronger and Fairer Super System) Bill 2026 (often called Division 296 tax) and Building a Stronger and Fairer Super System Imposition Bill 2026 on 10 March, with the payments now awaiting Royal Assent.

Under the laws, Division 296 tax of 15% will apply to earnings on the portion of your whole tremendous steadiness that’s above $3 million. An additional 10% tax will apply to earnings on the portion of your steadiness that’s above $10 million, bringing the overall Division 296 tax on this portion to 25%. This is along with the present tremendous tax fee of 15% on earnings within the accumulation part, therefore a tax of 30% on earnings on the portion of your tremendous steadiness between $3 million and $10 million, and 40% on earnings on the portion of your tremendous steadiness above $10 million.

Greens Economic Justice spokesperson Senator Nick McKim mentioned the Greens would assist the passage of the invoice as a “down payment on genuine, progressive tax reform in the budget”.

At the opposite finish of the tremendous spectrum, modifications to LISTO will present a lift of as much as $810 per yr to the tremendous accounts of low-income employees, with a median of $410. In a press release, Treasurer Jim Chalmers mentioned: “These reforms will mean more super for around 1.3 million Australians, including 750,000 women and around 550,000 young people under the age of 30.”

Troubling default life insurance coverage hole

Thousands of Australians are lacking out on life insurance coverage cowl since reforms to default insurance coverage preparations in superannuation had been launched in 2019.

New analysis from the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA) calculates that roughly 5,000 Australians have died with out life insurance coverage cowl since 2019. ASFA estimates insurance coverage might have been price an combination of $670 million a yr to their households.

Another 11,000 people are lacking out on a complete of $1.5 billion in whole and everlasting incapacity (TPD) advantages annually.

In 2019, the Protecting Your Super (PYS) bundle reforms required funds to cancel insurance coverage on member funds that had been inactive for 16 months. And as a part of the Putting Members’ Interests First (PMIF) Act, additionally launched in 2019, default insurance coverage was eliminated for members below 25 and for these with balances lower than $6,000.

“I really feel for the families who’ve been caught by some of the unintended consequences of the PYS and PMIF legislation,” ASFA’s chief coverage and advocacy officer James Koval mentioned.

To clear up these points and enhance insurance coverage cowl, ASFA is recommending:

Extending opt-out insurance coverage to all members aged 21 and over, somewhat than 25
Applying default cowl to new full-time staff from day one somewhat than ready for his or her steadiness to develop to $6,000
Replacing computerized cancellation of canopy on inactive accounts with an enhanced opt-out course of.

Curbs on tremendous entry for household violence perpetrators

The Federal Government has launched a session paper and opened public session on reforms to forestall household and home violence perpetrators from accessing victims’ tremendous demise advantages.

Under present superannuation regulation, a brilliant fund could also be required to pay demise advantages to an individual who used household and home violence in opposition to the deceased.

A session paper on stopping perpetrators from accessing victims’ tremendous demise advantages proposes three broad choices for reform:

Broad trustee discretion
A prescribed strategy that might contain legislative amendments to allow the setting apart of an individual as an eligible beneficiary in sure circumstances involving household and home violence
Referral to the deceased property or court docket.

“There are too many instances where families have watched on in horror as a woman has had her life made a misery by someone either physically assaulting her or controlling her in a way that has isolated and degraded her,” the minister for Social Services Tanya Plibersek mentioned.

“The idea that the tormentor should be rewarded by receiving superannuation after the death of that woman is adding untold misery to the surviving family members and friends of those women,” she added.

Submissions will be made till 15 April 2026.

Financial complaints hit a excessive in 2025

Complaints to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) rose by 14% in 2025 to a document 111,373.

Consumers and small enterprise homeowners had been paid a complete $643 million in compensation and refunds after looking for AFCA’s help, which was additionally a 120% improve in funds from 2024.

Investment and recommendation complaints rose by 58%, which included a rise in complaints from self-managed tremendous funds (SMSFs) of 59%. The complaints authority additionally obtained 2,162 complaints referring to the collapse of the Shield and First Guardian grasp funds.

“Shield and First Guardian complaints will continue to be a key focus for AFCA throughout 2026. We have now issued 44 decisions, including five lead decisions, and have 500 simultaneous investigations underway, and we remain firmly committed to progressing these matters as quickly as we can,” AFCA chief ombudsman and chief government officer David Locke mentioned.

In 2025, superannuation complaints elevated by 29% to 7,687, nearly all of which involved delays in dealing with claims and disputes over declare selections.

Across all complaints to AFCA, delays in declare dealing with had been the commonest at 9,274 in 2025, up barely (1%) from the earlier yr. The second most complained about challenge was deceptive product/service info, which had 8,457 complaints, a rise of 110% over the yr.

Website to interact younger tremendous members

The Super Members Council (SMC) has launched a brand new web site as a part of an initiative encouraging younger Australians to nurture their tremendous like it’s a “golden goose”.

The web site, lookafteryoursuper.com, affords guests solutions to steadily requested questions on tremendous written in plain English.

“Instead of charts, jargon and percentages, this initiative highlights that super is something you look after. If you nurture your ‘golden super goose’, protect it and pay attention to it, it grows. And when you retire, it then looks after you in your post-work years as your source of income,” SMC chief government officer Misha Schubert mentioned.

An commercial additionally kinds a part of the marketing campaign. It includes a younger lady being given a gosling on her first day at work. She then nurtures it all through her working life till it turns into a mature goose and its feathers flip utterly gold upon her retirement.

The initiative follows SMC analysis exhibiting almost half of Australians say they don’t perceive the fundamentals of tremendous, and that younger Australians who do perceive tremendous are six instances extra prone to take motion to enhance their retirement financial savings.

“Super works best when people understand it and nurture it. Helping more young Australians look after their super now means more security and dignity for them later in life,” Schubert mentioned.

ATO targets overdue SMSF annual returns

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has acknowledged that one in all its present compliance priorities is addressing overdue SMSF annual returns (SAR), with roughly 93,000 SMSFs on the regulator’s books as having a number of excellent lodgement obligations.

“This population includes 20,000 that have never lodged a SAR since they registered their SMSF,” ATO deputy commissioner Ben Kelly advised delegates on the SMSF Association’s nationwide convention.

The ATO mentioned that one of many highest-risk teams from a compliance perspective continues to be “SMSFs that are set up, roll over their super and then never lodge a return”.

The ATO calls this group the ‘never lodgers’ and says that just about 40% of such funds find yourself illegally accessing their tremendous, with the worth of unlawful early entry on this group additionally rising by almost 40% final yr.

“Lodgement is the cornerstone of compliance,” Kelly mentioned.

“It is how trustees can best demonstrate they are meeting their legal responsibilities. It is also how the integrity of the sector is monitored,” he added.

Additionally, it’s how regulators defend the retirement financial savings of Australians who depend on the system to function with transparency, self-discipline and accountability.

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This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its unique location you may go to the hyperlink bellow:
https://www.superguide.com.au/super-booster/superguide-news-for-march-2026
and if you wish to take away this text from our web site please contact us