May Newsletter #1. Your superannuation checklist. Getting Ready for Tax Time. Meet Bridget Kelly

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1 May Newsletter #1 Getting Ready for Tax Time Tax time is fast approaching! To help you with your planning, we are sending out checklists about your superannuation, individual and business tax affairs, for your reference. The first checklist relates to your superannuation. If you have any queries regarding how to prepare for the end of financial year and your superannuation requirements, please call your Maxim Group Adviser on Your superannuation checklist Contributions: Prior to 30 June check the level of super contributions made, particularly if you are salary sacrificing. The concessional limit for the 2013/14 financial year is $25,000 for those up to the age of 60 and $35,000 for those over the age of 60. If you are over the age of 65 and making contributions to super you will need to pass a work test, this required you to have worked at least 40 hours within 30 consecutive days in a financial year. Meet Bridget Kelly Bridget is our Self Managed Superannuation Manager. Having worked in the Tax & Business services area for 7 years, Bridget has been specialising in superannuation for the past 3 years, assisting clients in streamlining the management of their self managed superannuation funds. If you would like to meet Bridget and chat about your superannuation needs, call to arrange a meeting on or viabridgetk@maximgroup.com. au. If you have money outside of your super structure, are nearing retirement and under 65, you could consider contributing $150,000

2 in after-tax contributions or utilising the $450,000 bring forward provision and significantly increase your super balance. Pensions & Transition to Retirement Strategies: Ensure the minimum pension is being withdrawn from your superannuation fund; the minimum pension for this financial year is: For those under 65: 4% Between 65 and 75: 5% From 75 to 79: 6% Failure to meet the minimum pension amounts will affect the tax free status of your fund. If you have reached 60 or are turning 60 prior to 30 June 2014 you may consider starting a transition to retirement pension, this will allow you a tax free pension of up to 10 per cent of your super account each year and will provide a few additional months of tax free earnings. Rental Properties: If your SMSF owns a rental property and you are paying superannuation benefits to members within the fund please ensure the following are prepared prior to 30 June 2014: Home Loan Rates Fixed vs Variable Here's a link to a video produced by Yves Schoof, Director of Maxim Private Office, offering some comments on the differences between fixed versus variable rate home loans and what you may need to consider: LXoT_g Property Valuation Rent review An up to date lease agreement Does your fund own a commercial property? If so ensure rent is paid prior to 30 June 2014 Insurance: SMSF trustees will need to consider the personal circumstances of fund members when preparing or reviewing the fund s investment strategy. In doing so, the trustees will need to determine whether the fund should hold an insurance policy that provides insurance cover for some or all of its members. Additionally any insurance policies paid by the super fund must be held in the name of the super fund. Valuations: All investments within your SMSF must be valued at market value and valuations must be completed by a qualified independent valuer. According to the ATO a valuer will be qualified either through holding formal valuation qualifications or by being considered to have specific knowledge, experience and judgment by their particular professional community. This may be demonstrated by being a current member of a relevant professional Yves Schoof Director Maxim Private Office yves@maximgroup.com.au

3 body or trade association and must not be a member of the fund or a related party. If your fund is paying superannuation benefits to member and owns assets such as property, artwork, coins & other collectables a valuation is required yearly to ensure minimum pension calculations are an accurate reflection of the funds value. Contribution Splitting: Contribution splitting allows members to split certain contributions with their spouse to increase their super savings with some of their own. All members are eligible to split their contributions, however their spouse receiving the contributions must either be less than 55 years old or 55 to 64 years old and not retired. A member can request to transfer up to 85% of the financial years concessional contribution. To split contributions made for the financial year, members will need to submit an application to their fund which can be found on the ATO website, under the search code: NAT It is important to note that not every fund will allow this, so you should make some additional enquiries first. Self-managed super fund compliance: Review your current Superannuation Trust Deed and consider whether this needs to be update to reflect current legislation changes and if current death benefit nominations are still relevant. AMCHAM Networking Event Thank you to all of the American Chamber of Commerce members who joined us for an evening of wine and canapés last month. We look forward to the next event and the opportunity to host our fellow members again. Many thanks to Penelope, Robyn and the rest of the AMCHAM team for their help in making the night a success. Fairer taxation of excess concessional contributions For the financial year onwards, excess concessional contributions are no longer subject to excess contributions tax. If your contributions exceed the cap, the amount will now be included in your assessable income and taxed at your marginal tax rate, rather than the excess concessional contributions tax rate of 31.5%. You will also have to pay the excess concessional contributions (ECC) charge on the increase in your tax liability. This charge is applied to recognise that the tax on excess concessional contributions is collected later than normal income tax. To reduce your tax liability, the tax office will apply a 15% tax offset to account for the contributions tax that has already been paid by your super fund provider. You may elect to withdraw up to 85% of your excess concessional contributions from your superannuation fund to help pay your income tax assessment when you have excess concessional contributions. Any excess concessional contributions withdrawn from your fund will also no longer count towards your non-concessional contributions cap. Financial Concessional Non-Concessional Years Contribution Cap Contribution Cap 2013/14 $25,000 (up to age $150,000 or

4 2014/15 Tax on amounts over the cap 60) $35,000 (age 60+) $30,000(up to age 50) $35,000 (age 50+) Included in your income tax return and taxed at your marginal rates $450,000 over 3 years $180,000 or $540,000 over 3 years 46.5% (2013/14 year) 47% (2014/15 year) Avoiding exceeding the caps Suggestions for concessional (before tax) contributions: Be aware of what your concessional (before-tax) contribution cap is. Keep track of the amount of contributions and when they were received by your super fund contributions count towards a cap in the year in which your super fund actually receives the money. Check when your employer actually pays the contributions to your super fund, as it could be in the next financial year. If you have more than one job or pay money into more than one super fund, include all of them when you work out your annual contributions remember compulsory employer contributions are included as part of your concessional (before-tax) contributions. If you think you may go over the concessional (before-tax) contributions cap in the current financial year: o stop or reduce any pre-tax voluntary contributions o to your super, such as salary sacrifice but you can't ask your employer to change compulsory super guarantee amounts or amounts paid under a contract or industrial agreement delay making any personal super contributions that you intend to claim as a deduction in your tax return Check if your employer pays costs such as super administration fees and insurance premiums on your behalf to your fund these count towards your concessional (before-tax) contributions cap. If you are eligible to claim an income tax deduction for your personal super contributions, only the amount we allow as a deduction will count towards your concessional (before-tax) contributions cap. Suggestions for concessional (after tax) contributions: Be aware of what your after-tax (non-concessional) contributions cap is.

5 Keep track of the amount of contributions and when they were received by your super fund contributions count towards a cap in the year in which your super fund actually receives the money. If you go over the concessional (before-tax) contributions cap, the excess contributions count towards your nonconcessional (after-tax) contributions cap if you choose not to release the excess concessional contributions from your super fund. Any amount that you withdraw and re-contribute to your super fund is a personal (after tax) contribution. Contributions are counted against the caps in the year in which they are received and credited by your super fund. You are only eligible to bring-forward the next two years of contributions if you are 64 years old or under on 1 July of the first financial year. If someone else, such as a financial planner, accountant or employer, makes contributions on your behalf, check that they make the contributions in time to be received in your fund account by the end of the financial year. If making contributions by BillPay, internet transfer or similar means at the end of the financial year, check the terms and conditions of your financial institution and allow for any possible delays. Check whether your contributions are held in another account or by another institution before they are received by your fund, as this can cause delays. Managing your superannuation As part of your tax planning, you may wish to consider whether you can transfer any existing assets into your super fund. Here's an example of how Maxim Private Office assisted a client in transferring his medical practice rooms into his super fund: Case study: Buying existing medical rooms through your SMSF You can implement some very powerful strategies through your SMSF, which would not be possible with other super funds. Below is an example of a strategy we implemented for one of our Surgeon clients.

6 Our client was in his sixties and nearing retirement. He owned his medical suite where he runs his practice from through his family trust. He saw the rooms as a good long-term investment with a high rental yield. He wanted to optimise his tax position, and as part of our pre-retirement review we considered whether it would be worthwhile transferring the rooms into his SMSF. This was a valid option, as the property met the condition of being a business real property (as opposed to if it had been a residential property, as this cannot be acquired by an SMSF from one of its members or their related parties). We quickly identified that this strategy would work really well for him, and in conjunction with lawyers and accountants, we assisted in the transfer of his rooms from his family trust to his SMSF, with minimal stamp duty and other taxes such as CGT, using various concessions. This is a very delicate process for which professional advice should always be sought, to avoid unexpected costs and taxes. The end result was extremely beneficial though as our client is currently over age 60 and is running a pension from his SMSF, he does not pay any income tax on any rent he receives. This represents an annual income tax saving of approximately $15,300 which will help boost our client s retirement income. Our mailing address is: P O Box 8217, Subiaco East, WA, 6008 Our new street address is: 255 Hay Street, Subiaco, WA, 6008 P: F: E: info@maximgroup.com.au