Government to provide relief on excess contributions

The Government has tabled a bill that will give individuals the option to have excess concessional contributions of $10,000 or less refunded from their superannuation account and assessed at their marginal tax rate.

The Tax and Superannuation Laws Amendment (2012 Measures No. 1) bill was introduced to Parliament by the Minister for Superannuation Bill Shorten yesterday.

The new measures are likely to bring relief to over 30,000 individuals, and will apply to excess contributions made in the 2011-12 and later financial years, said Shorten.

"The introduction of this Bill marks another important step the Government is taking to improve the fairness of the superannuation system, by making sure those individuals who make a genuine mistake get a second chance," Shorten said.

The bill also includes a measure that will pause the indexation of the concessional cap for one year.

"[This] means that the cap is now not expected to increase to $30,000 until 2014-15," said Shorten.

Also laid out in the bill is a framework for the reporting of superannuation benefits, which will require employers to report to their employees how much super they will be paying and when they plan to pay it, said the minister.

Employers will be required to include this information on their employees' payslips from 1 July 2012.

"This measure will benefit those employees who are most vulnerable - that is, low-income, casual and part-time workers - by giving them better information about the payment of their super entitlements," said Shorten.

The Australian Taxation Office investigated 17,943 employee complaints in 2010-11 and raised superannuation guarantee entitlements for 279,000 employees, said Shorten.