Written

For

The

Australian

-

New

data

reveals

how

much

the

new

super

tax

will

cost

investors

–

here’s

what

to

do

$50,000. That's the average extra tax bill wealthy super fund investors are staring down if the government's new Division 296 tax passes the Senate unchanged. And for the average two-member SMSF? Try close to $100,000 a year in new taxes.

The bill has just cleared the lower house without a single amendment, and now the fate of thousands of SMSF trustees rests with the crossbench. Software provider Class has crunched the numbers on its own client base and found more than 16,000 SMSF members would be caught. Worse, 5 per cent don't have enough liquid cash to pay the bill and 36 per cent are holding lumpy property assets that can't easily be sold down.

Here's what really irks me about this tax. It doesn't just hit investment earnings — it hits unrealised gains too. So if your SMSF owns a commercial property that ticks up on paper from $3m to $3.5m, you're up for an extra $150,000 in tax on a gain you haven't actually received. And with no indexation of the $3m threshold, this net is going to catch a lot more Australians over time, particularly younger generations.

For those likely to be affected, there are a few paths worth exploring. Shifting assets into a family trust is one option — it offers flexibility to stream income across beneficiaries and, critically, no tax on unrealised gains. Pair it with a bucket company and you can cap tax at 25-30 per cent. Just watch the transaction costs: CGT, stamp duty and legal fees can add up.

Another strategy is adding members to your SMSF (up to six are now allowed) since the $3m cap applies per person. But bringing your kids in means losing legal control of that money — a big call for most parents.

Finally, restructure toward more liquid assets and manage the balance below $3m via lump-sum withdrawals each year.

Let's see if the Senate has the appetite to fix what the lower house waved through.