The end of the 2014-15 taxation year is approaching fast and now is a good time to review the contributions that employers (including Oncore) have made to your super fund/s. The best way to check what has been contributed for you is to create a myGov account and link to the ATO to see details of all your super accounts, including any you have lost track of or forgotten about, such as ATO-held super.
It’s important to regularly monitor the contributions made to your super fund if you don’t want to inadvertently exceed your concessional cap. An individual has a cap on the amount of concessional contributions that benefit from the concessional tax treatment in their superannuation fund (i.e. taxed at 15 per cent). Concessional contributions include contributions made by the employer and salary sacrifice contributions. The cap for the year ended 30 June 2015 is generally $30,000. A higher cap will apply to people who are 50 years or over.
At Oncore, we offer all our contractors the option to salary sacrifice additional superannuation. Prior to making the decision salary sacrifice superannuation, Oncore strongly encourages its contractors to obtain independent financial advice or to talk to our team at Oncore Wealth Solutions. To salary sacrifice superannuation, contact your Client Services Manager and they can send you a request form for instructions to payroll.
For 2013-14 and later years, any amount over the concessional contributions cap will be included in your assessable income and taxed at your income tax marginal rate. You will also be liable for the excess concessional contributions charge. You will receive a non-refundable tax offset equal to the 15 per cent tax paid by your fund on this amount. You can elect to have 85 per cent of your excess concessional contributions released from superannuation, and the released amount will not count toward your non-concessional contributions cap (further information regarding excess concessional contributions can be found on the ATO website).
Timing of your contributions can also be important. Contributions are counted towards your cap in the year in which they are received and credited by your super fund. For example, Oncore is required at a minimum to send contributions to funds by the 28th day of the month after each quarter, which means that contributions for April-June 2014 (unless you requested an early contribution) would have been received by your super fund in July 2014 and will therefore count towards this financial year (similarly April-June 2015 contributions will typically be paid into funds in the 2015-16 tax year).
Oncore is also offering contractors the opportunity to send April-May 2015 superannuation guarantee and/or salary sacrificed contributions to funds early*. To request this, send an email to supportaus@oncoreservices.com before 5pm AEST MONDAY 25 MAY 2015.
Be sure to include the subject “Request for early super contribution” and provide clear instructions on how much you require to be sent. For example:
- Do you want Oncore to send superannuation guarantee contribution and/or salary sacrifice?
- Is it the total outstanding for contribution (as deducted – refer to your payslips) or a partial amount?
- If it is a partial amount, advise the $ you would like Oncore to send early
- To what super fund do you want this contribution sent? (Note, splitting between funds is not currently available).
*Contributions sent after 25 May 2015 or returned to Oncore due to outdated or incorrect information on file are unlikely to be deposited into a super fund until AFTER 30 June 2015.