The Tax Questions Blog

Posts Tagged ‘is superannuation taxable in australia’

Question: payroll tax what is included?

are all of these included in payroll tax
-ordinary wages and salaries
-taxable value of fringe benefit and
-employer superannuation contributions

Answer: For Victoria and NSW - yes.
Other states and territories I can't say - but I'm guessing yes - those three are the common ones.
Check out the SRO for each state and each territories.

Older volunteers deserve to pass super work test

There is a lack of interest from both sides of politics when it comes to the work test for people aged 65 and older.

Question: According to Australian Tax Law, Can You Salary Sacrifice until You Have Zero Income?

Suppose someone is 24 years old in Australia. He works and his income puts him in the 30% tax bracket. He wants to salary sacrifice so that he can minimize tax.

Is it in theory possible to salary sacrifice into superannuation so that taxable income is zero? That is, can the 24-year-old salary sacrifice his whole income? Is that possible or is there a limit to how much he can salary sacrifice?

Answer: I understand it depends on the awards and/or the agreements that the employee is on. Some apparently say no. But that aside - yes you can. Generally what you need to be aware of, strictly speaking, the employer can also legally escape from the 9% super obligation if the employee salary sacrifices 100% of his gross salary (excluding super). I vaguely recall before the May 08 budget this was going to be amended - I don't think it has - but others can correct me on that. Also, generally employees do not salary sacrifice more than the bottom threshold of 15% marginal tax bracket. As the contribution into super is also taxed at 15%.

Coalition to let public invest in infrastructure

The Coalition has proposed allowing Australians the chance to invest in major infrastructure projects by purchasing bonds.