2017-18 Federal Budget – Webinar Outcomes

/ UNCLASSIFIED External
Title: / 2017-18 Federal Budget – Webinar Outcomes
Issue date: / 18 May 2017
Venue: / WebEx
Event date: / 16 May 2017 / Start: 11:00 / Finish: 11:35
Chair: / Terry Seiver / Facilitator: / N/A
Contact / SIPO / Contact email: /
Agenda item: – Questions /
Personal income tax – increasing the Medicare levy low-income thresholds
1.  Medicare levy surcharge (MLS) amounts and thresholds have been published at http://softwaredevelopers.ato.gov.au/Medicarelevythresholds but do not include the Medicare levy low-income thresholds as announced in the Budget. Will these thresholds be included and if so, what is the expected timeframe?
The Medicare levy thresholds for 2016-17 have now been corrected and published at http://softwaredevelopers.ato.gov.au/Medicarelevythresholds.
Updated co-efficients for the tax scales are also available at http://softwaredevelopers.ato.gov.au/PAYGWTaxtables.
Reducing Pressure on Housing Affordability – limit plant and equipment depreciation deductions to outlays actually incurred by investors
1.  Does the measure exclude deductions even though the original owner did not fully depreciate plant and equipment?
Yes, if a property is purchased after Budget night the remaining effective life is lost.
Reducing Pressure on Housing Affordability – first home super saver scheme
1.  Who will withhold the tax?
Likely to be super funds.
2.  How will the super fund know the marginal tax rate?
The ATO seems well placed to inform funds of the withholding rate to use.
3.  What if the super account balance is less than the amount to be released?
The ATO expects that the existing process for current release authorities will be used.
4.  Will contributions from members be recorded the same as normal voluntary contributions?
The ATO is not expecting any change to the recording of voluntary contributions by funds.
5.  Will there be any changes to reportable employer super contributions (RESC)?
The ATO is not expecting any changes to what is reported at this label on the payment summary due to this measure.
6.  Why are we applying a deemed earnings amount when I thought the intent was to save via super because there would be a higher earnings rate than in a normal bank account?
It is difficult to calculate actual earnings amounts in super and that is why super policies tend to use deemed earnings amounts.
7.  Will the ATO also provide the deemed earnings amount as part of the release authority?
This is a reasonable assumption to make.
Reducing Pressure on Housing Affordability – contributing the proceeds of downsizing to superannuation
1.  Is the onus on the fund to ensure the member has met the eligibility criteria or on the member?
The ATO expects that the onus will largely be on the member to self-assess.
2.  In terms of reporting to the ATO, will there be a new label in the Member Account Transaction Service (MATS) or Member contributions statement (MCS)?
The ATO expects that these contributions will need to be identified separately. Building this into the MATS from the 2018-19 year may be the right solution for this.

If you have any questions relating to the measures presented in the webinar, please email .

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