The Australian Prudential Regulatory Authority (APRA) has released its weekly update on the Morrison Government’s early superannuation release policy, which reveals that another $1.1 billion was withdrawn from Australia’s superannuation pool, taking total withdrawals to $15.9 billion:
As you can see, 2.1 million applications for early release have been paid averaging $7,637 per withdrawal.
Looking at the breakdown, you can see that industry funds comprised the top six for withdrawals, accounting for just over half ($8.3 billion) of total early redemptions:
Early superannuation withdrawals should continue to rise given the Morrison Government’s early superannuation release policy allows superannuants to withdraw an additional $10,000 from 1 July.
That said, the Australian Tax Office has vowed to crack down on people gaming the system:
The ATO said it is beefing up enforcement efforts saying it is prepared to take enforcement action where individuals have deliberately exploited the system…
The ATO said through the Single Touch Payroll (STP) system it has real time information as to whether individuals are employed and how much they are being paid…
The taxation office listed a number of behaviours it considers suspicious including applying for ERS when there has been no change in regular salary or wage, artificially arranging affairs to meet the criteria and making false statements or fraudulent attempts to meet the criteria.
The ATO said each false and misleading statement will carry a penalty of over $12,000.
Additionally, the ATO said it is on the lookout for people seeking to withdraw and recontribute their superannuation for a tax advantage.
Fair enough.
