Passive fees charged by superannuation funds will be capped at 3% for small accounts with balances below $6,000, while exit fees will be banned for all superannuation accounts from 1 July 2019. These measures form part of the Government’s Protecting Your Super Package.
The Minister for Revenue and Financial Services, Kelly O’Dwyer, said there were around 9.5 million super account with a balance less than $6,000 in 2015–2016. To avoid these small accounts from being eroded, the Government will cap the administration and investment fees at 3% annually, Ms O’Dwyer said.
The Government will also ban exit fees on all superannuation accounts. Exit fees of around $37 million were charged to members in 2015–2016 to simply close an account with a super fund. The proposed ban on exit fees will also benefit members looking to rollover their super accounts to a different fund, or who hold multiple accounts and see exit fees as a barrier to consolidating accounts.
With nearly two million low and inactive accounts belonging to women, the Minister said these measures will help to protect the hard-earned super savings of women from undue erosion. These changes will take effect from 1 July 2019.