Federal Budget 2022/23

On 25 October 2022, Treasurer Jim Chalmers handed down an updated 2022/23 Federal Budget, the first for the Albanese Labor Government.

The government delivered a bleak economic outlook, highlighting major challenges, but failed to provide certainty about its future reform priorities. Presumably more clarity will be provided at the next Federal budget at the usual time in May 2023.

Small business was largely ignored with only a $15 million commitment to mental health and a debt counselling hotline.

The budget promises a clampdown on profit shifting to lower-taxing jurisdictions by multinational corporations and significant investment in a fraud taskforce to clawback fraudulent funding to NDIS providers.

Regional communities were hit hard with funding for new dams cut by $1.7 billion over four years and $10.2 billion in other regional programs have been axed. While other cuts by Government to private consulting firms has been slashed with the budget targeting savings of $3.6 billion over four years and plans to bring much of this work in house and build up the capability of public service teams.

Young families, patients on the PBS scheme, renters and home buyers and those in vocational training are the principal beneficiaries of the budget with plans to:

• eligibility for Paid Parental Leave expanded to families earning up to $350,000 per year
• expand paid parental leave from 20 to 26 weeks in stages over the years until 2026, with parents deciding on how to split the leave between them
• commits $1 billion in a deal with the states and territories to fund fee-free TAFE and vocational educational places, equivalent to 180,000 places next year
• The maximum general co-payment for medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) will be cut from $42.50 to $30, increasing the subsidies on around 17 million scripts for around 3 million people each year.

Other superannuation and wealth planning changes include:

• Employer Superannuation guarantee increases next financial year from 10.5% to 11.0% per annum
• The minimum pension reduction has not been extended and all minimum pensions will revert to the standard rate from next financial year
• The ‘downsizer contribution’ scheme has been extended to home owners aged 55 (currently you must be aged 60 to access the scheme)
• The income cap for the Commonwealth Senior’s Healthcare care has been increased to allow more access to this benefit

For a more detailed overview please continue reading below and if you have any particular concerns or require clarification, please contact your usual contact at Quantiphy.

Providing certainty for unlegislated taxation and superannuation measures 

The Government has announced it will not proceed with certain legacy tax and super measures that were announced but not legislated by the previous Government, including the following:

1. The 2018/19 Budget measure that proposed changing the annual audit requirement for certain self-managed superannuation funds (‘SMSFs’).  The previous Government announced it would change the annual audit requirement to a three-yearly requirement for SMSFs with a history of good record-keeping and compliance.
2. The 2018/19 Budget measure that proposed introducing a limit of $10,000 for cash payments made to businesses for goods and services.  The previous Government announced that it would require transactions over a threshold to be made through an electronic payment system or by cheque.

 The Government will defer the start dates of certain legacy tax and superannuation measures to allow sufficient time for policies to be legislated and implemented including the following:

1. The 2019/20 MYEFO measure that proposed introducing a sharing economy reporting regime for transactions relating to the supply of ride sourcing and short-term accommodation from  1 July 2022 will be deferred to 1 July 2023.  All other reportable transactions (including asset sharing, food delivery and tasking-based services) will be deferred from 1 July 2023 to  1 July 2024.
2. The 2021/22 Federal Budget measure that proposed relaxing residency requirements for SMSFs, from 1 July 2022 to the income year commencing on or after the date of Royal Assent of the enabling legislation.

The previous Government announced that it would relax residency requirements for SMSFs by extending the ‘central control and management test’ safe harbour from two years to five years and removing the ‘active member test’.

This measure is intended to allow SMSF members to continue to contribute to their superannuation fund whilst temporarily overseas.

Digital Currency – Clarifying that digital currencies are not taxed as foreign currency

Clarifying that digital currencies are not taxed as foreign currency The Government will introduce legislation to clarify that digital currencies (such as Bitcoin) continue to be excluded from the Australian income tax treatment of foreign currency. This maintains the current tax treatment of digital currencies, including the capital gains tax treatment where they are held as an investment.  This measure removes uncertainty following the decision of the Government of El Salvador to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender and will be backdated to income years that include 1 July 2021. The exclusion does not apply to digital currencies issued by, or under the authority of, a government agency, which continue to be taxed as foreign currency.

Depreciation – Reverse the self-assessment of the effective life of intangible assets

The Government will not proceed with the measure to allow taxpayers to self-assess the effective life of intangible depreciating assets, which was announced in the 2021/22 Budget. The previous Government announced it would allow taxpayers to self-assess the tax effective lives of eligible intangible depreciating assets, such as patents, registered designs, copyrights and inhouse software.  This measure was proposed to apply to assets acquired from 1 July 2023. Reversing this decision will maintain the status quo (i.e., effective lives of intangible depreciating assets will continue to be set by statute.

 Superannuation – Expanding the eligibility for downsizer contributions

The Government will allow more people to make downsizer contributions to their superannuation, by reducing the minimum eligibility age from 60 to 55 years of age.  The measure will have effect from the start of the first quarter after Royal Assent of the enabling legislation. The downsizer contribution allows people to make a one-off post-tax contribution to their superannuation of up to $300,000 per person from the proceeds of selling their home.  Both members of a couple can contribute and contributions do not count towards non-concessional contribution caps.   Further to this announcement, the Government has also announced further (non-tax) measures to reduce the financial impact on pensioners looking to downsize their homes in an effort to minimise the burden on older Australians and free up housing stock for younger families, as follows:

• Extending the assets test exemption for principal home sale proceeds from 12 months to 24 months for income support recipients.
• Changing the income test to apply only the lower deeming rate (0.25%) to principal home sale proceeds when calculating deemed income for 24 months after the sale of the principal home.

FBT – Electric cars

From 1 July 2022, the measure will exempt battery, hydrogen fuel cell and plug-in hybrid electric cars from fringe benefits tax and import tariffs if they have a first retail price below the luxury car tax threshold for fuel-efficient cars.  The car must not have been held or used before 1 July 2022.   Employers will need to include exempt electric car fringe benefits in an employee’s reportable fringe benefits amount.

Boosting Paid Parental Leave 

The Government has announced it will introduce reforms from 1 July 2023 to make the Paid Parental Leave Scheme flexible for families so that either parent is able to claim the payment and both birth parents and non-birth parents are allowed to receive the payment if they meet the eligibility criteria.

Parents will also be able to claim weeks of the payment concurrently so they can take leave at the same time.

From 1 July 2024, the Government will start expanding the scheme by two additional weeks a year until it reaches a full 26 weeks from 1 July 2026.

Both parents will be able to share the leave entitlement, with a proportion maintained on a ‘use it or lose it’ basis, to encourage and facilitate both parents to access the scheme and to share the caring responsibilities more equally.  Sole parents will be able to access the full 26 weeks.

Commonwealth Seniors’ Health Card (CSHC)

Very significant increases to the income test thresholds for the– up to $144,000 for couples and $90,000 for singles. Again, these are almost law already. The change to the thresholds themselves has been agreed by both Houses of Parliament, the Bill has just been held up by a proposed change to the start date – again, we expect this to come soon.

Aged pension income & assets testing

The government announced changes to the assets and income tests for the age pension when a recipient sells their home. Currently the sale proceeds are excluded from the assets test for 12 months if they will be used to buy a new home. This is proposed to be extended to 24 months. In addition, there will be a special rule to calculate “deemed income” on the proceeds at the lowest possible rate for 24 months. Again, both changes are already well progressed – with legislation in parliament and seemingly not contested by either side.

Patients under Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS)

The maximum general co-payment for medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) will be cut from $42.50 to $30, increasing the subsidies on around 17 million scripts for around 3 million people each year. This budget will see the government spend $787 million over four years and $233 million each year after that to reduce the cost of medicines under the PBS. There is also $47.7 million over four years reinstate Medicare for bulk billed telehealth psychiatry in regional Australia, with the government contributing a 50 per cent loading for consultations.

Confirmation of previous measures

The Budget also confirmed some things announced by the last Government but not specifically endorsed by the new Government until now:

• Relaxation of the residency rules for SMSFs While the new Government confirmed its commitment to this change, the start date won’t be 1 July 2022 as originally planned. Instead it will be the 1 July after the relevant legislation receives Royal Assent. Since there’s been no legislation put forward yet – even in draft form for consultation – it’s likely that this is still a little way off.
• Funding for the “Modernising Business Registers” program. While that might not be a household name, it’s the program that includes director identification numbers (DINs). You will hear from us again very soon as the due date to apply is still 30 November 2022 and substantial penalties are proposed for non-compliance.

Our Pacific neighbours

In addressing geopolitical uncertainty in the region, the budget boosts aid to the Pacific by around $1.4 billion over the next few years, more than the Government promised during the election and with the Solomon Islands in focus, Australian Federal Police’s operations in the country will receive $46 million.

Biosecurity

The budget includes $134 million to improve Australia’s biosecurity, with $11.7 million earmarked for detector dogs that can sniff out biosecurity threats coming into the country via mail, cargo and air.