SCOA has received the following information from the Commonwealth Superannuation Corporation: The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has released the new tax rates for the 2016/17 income year which will apply from 1 October 2016. The ATO has advised that the tables do not include any catch-up component for the portion of the year which has … Read more

SCOA Federal Council President, Dr Annette Barbetti, today said that SCOA welcomed the Coalition government’s decision to scrap the $500,000 lifetime cap on non-concessional superannuation contributions.  However, said Dr Barbetti, we are disappointed with the decision not to remove the restrictions on voluntary superannuation contributions for 65 to 74 year olds, since it does not … Read more

On 12 September, the Australia Council of Public Sector Retiree Organisations (ACPSRO) released a media statement alerting retirees to the above outline of recent 10% cap correspondence, and requested retiree organisations to circulate the statement to their members so they can continue to protest to their own Members of Parliament. For more comprehensive information on this … Read more

1 March – 1 September 2016 correspondence on the 10% Cap issue The 2015 Budget measure known as the 10% Cap came into effect on 1 January 2016. The measure reduced from 50% to 10% the amount of tax-free income that defined benefit pensioners can exclude from the age Pension income test. The only justification that … Read more

SCOA has written to Treasurer Scott Morrison and asked that the government consider lowering the current unrealistically high Age Pension income test deeming rates. The letter has also been sent to Ministers Christian Porter (Social Services) and Alan Tudge (Human Services). Click here to read the letter. Canberra 22 August 2016  

SCOA’s Federal President, Dr Annette Barbetti, has sent the attached letter to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, urging the government to consider repealing the Social Services Legislation (Defined Benefit Income Streams) Act 2015. SCOA considers it a defective piece of legislation based on inadequate research and rushed through both houses of Parliament with undue haste. It has … Read more

Claiming the Age Pension and/or the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card just got easier after Centrelink consolidated the information into one page on their website. To claim the Age Pension, click here. To claim the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card, click here. The above links will take you to the relevant page(s) on Centrelink’s website where you … Read more

SCOA today launched a Recruit a member campaign, inviting new members to join SCOA for just $10 for the remainder of 2016. Currently, we have around 8,500 members across Australia.  We want many more.  We believe that each of our members must know at least one eligible person (current or former government employee, state or … Read more

With a re-elected Turnbull government now in place, SCOA believes it is time to look to the future. SCOA’s Federal President, Dr Annette Barbetti, today called for a thorough review of the entire superannuation system and its interaction with the welfare and pension systems before rushing through the recently announced changes to superannuation. “Over the … Read more

SCOA’s Federal President, Dr Annette Barbetti, today asked all political parties to hold their fire on changes to superannuation rules “until after a proper review of the interaction between the superannuation and welfare systems”. Dr Barbetti said that, “the changes proposed by the major political parties will have an adverse effect on many retirees who … Read more