Hundreds of thousands of Australian retirees may be getting unnecessarily taxed on their superannuation balance, new research shows.
About 700,000 retired Australians aged over 65 still have an accumulation super account, meaning they may pay thousands of dollars in extra tax over their retirement, according to the Super Members Council (SMC).
For a retiree with $100,000 in an accumulation account instead of a pension account, the amount of super tax paid could be $4500.
That tax figure is doubled to $9000 for those with $200,000 in their accounts.
The average super balance for a man in Australia aged between 65-69 is $453,075, while women in the same age bracket have an average balance of $403,000, according to the ATO.
The SMC said it was concerned that many older Australians had not been given “basic advice” to switch their supers into the tax-free retirement phase.
“Not knowing enough about super can lead to poor decisions, like leaving accounts inactive or withdrawing funds without proper planning,” said Super Members Council CEO Misha Schubert.
“Making simple information and advice available to more Australians is a big missing piece of the retirement puzzle.”
SMC research found 39 per cent of retirees leaving funds in the accumulation phase were doing so “because they don’t know what to do with it”.
Just 26 per cent of current retirees say they have sought financial advice from their super fund and four in five Australians aged 45 to 54 need advice but could not afford it.
Schubert said the Australian government’s financial advice reforms would help bridge this gap.
Labor’s “Delivering Better Financial Outcomes” package has been proposed but is yet to be legislated.
It aims to ensure access to quality and affordable financial advice for all Australians.
It would also allow super funds to better guide people at key life stages with personalised prompts to support them for retirement, the SMC said.
