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Super changes may require action by 30 June 2017

Due to the introduction of the new 'transfer balance cap' from 1 July 2017, super fund members with pension balances (in 'retirement phase') exceeding $1.6 million will need to partially commute one or more of their pensions to avoid the imposition of excess transfer balance tax.

In addition, members in receipt of a transition to retirement income stream ('TRIS') will lose the pension exemption from 1 July 2017.

This means that the future disposal of any assets currently supporting such pensions will potentially generate a higher taxable capital gain (even though the disposal of the asset prior to 1 July 2017 could be fully or partially tax-free, depending on whether the asset is a segregated or unsegregated asset).

Fortunately, to avoid funds selling off assets before 1 July 2017, transitional provisions have been introduced to allow super funds to apply CGT relief in certain situations.

Although the choice to apply the CGT relief can be made up until the day the super fund is required to lodge its 2017 tax return, in many cases, action must be taken on or before 30 June 2017 for the fund to even be eligible to make that choice. In particular, funds calculating exempt pension income using the segregated assets method will generally need at least a partial commutation of the pension.