On 25 July 2022, Treasury called for submissions on the draft exposure of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Measures for a later sitting) Bill 2022: Taxation of Military Superannuation Benefits.
DFWA made a submission, which you can download or view, below. You can view all of the submissions made to Treasury here.
To summarise DFWA’s submission:
- The provisions in the Schedule go beyond what is necessary to ensure “no veteran pays higher income tax because of … Douglas” and may close the door to the same beneficial interpretation being applied to ADF Cover invalidity benefit recipients.
- The benefits of the Douglas decision—particularly the tax modification for disability superannuation benefits—should be extended to those DFRDB Invalidity Pay and Military Superannuation Invalidity Pension recipients, whose benefits commenced prior to 20 September 2007.
- The same beneficial tax treatment should also be extended to contemporary veterans receiving Invalidity Benefits under ADF Cover.
- This legislation should explicitly confirm that affected invalidity and reversionary benefit superannuation lump sum are eligible payments for the purposes of the Lump Sum Payment in Arrears (LSPIA) rebate.