Surviving spouse has super held in pension mode

RECENTLY you outlined how the new rules will apply to superannuation balances over $1,600,000 – can you please explain what happens if a couple each have $800,000 in super assets and one party dies. Does the surviving spouse end up with $1.6 million in pension mode, or does the $800,000 have to be placed in accumulation mode or withdrawn?

A person is allowed a lifetime cap of $1.6 million in pension mode. Therefore, if the survivor was the reversionary beneficiary, the $800,000 could be paid to them and held in pension mode. I AM currently receiving a small, part-age pension and I rent an apartment. As such I am a non-homeowner receiving rent assistance.

An opportunity has arisen for me to buy my own apartment and become a homeowner. If I pay a deposit and sign a contract to settle in 90 days when will Centrelink reclassify me as a homeowner? When I pay the deposit or when I settle the contract in 90 days?

Department of Human Services General Manager Hank Jongen advises that if the property is your principal home, you will be reclassified as a homeowner on the day the contract is settled. If the property is not your principal home, it will be assessed as an asset from the date of settlement until the date it becomes your principal home and you are reclassified as a homeowner. The deposit will be assessed as an asset from the date it is paid. IF I transfer shares from my name to joint names with my wife in an off market transaction am I liable for Capital Gains Tax (CGT) based on the total increase in value or on 50 per cent of that total given that that could be a reasonable assessment of the actual asset shift?

As your wife effectively owns 50 per cent of the shares now, your capital gains tax would be based on 50 per cent of your holding and provided the shares were held for more than a year you get a further 50 per cent discount. Just take advice before you make the transfer — I am unsure what you would gain by this strategy. Keep in mind that the shares will pass to your wife on your death anyway with no capital gains tax payable until she disposes of them. I AM 28, currently not in a good financial situation, and would like to clear my debts. Is there any way to access my super? I have about $20,000 in my fund at this stage.

The government gives super tax concessions in the hope that you will have so much superannuation when you retire, that you won’t need the aged pension. This is why early withdrawals have been made deliberately very difficult. One requirement is that you have been on unemployment benefits for a considerable time, or else can prove extreme financial hardship. This could include being about to be evicted from your house because you cannot make the mortgage payments.

An opportunity has arisen for me to buy my own apartment and become a homeowner