It’s no secret that the median super balance for Australian women at the time of retirement is significantly lower than that of their male counterparts. The Australian Commission & Investments Commission (ASIC) have reported that men retire with about twice the amount as women. The discrepancy is reportedly even higher between Mums and Dads. Between lower wages and a higher likelihood of having an interrupted working life for women, women also tend to live longer and thus require more super to cover more years. Unfortunately, between personal finances, business financial capabilities, and governmental policies, actions to close this gap can be limited.
Where viable, private companies can consider:
continuing paying superannuation to staff during parental leave.
paying full-time super benefits to part-time parents. This has already been implemented by Viva Energy (a Shell subsidiary). From the ABS, women are much more likely to be working part-time than men.
increasing the percentage of base salary put toward their employees’ super accounts.
Pay as you go (PAYG) instalments are payments you can make throughout the year to avoid accumulating a large tax bill to pay at the end of the year. Making these payments is a great way to budget for income tax and keep a healthy cash flow.
To qualify for PAYG instalments, you must earn over a threshold amount from your business or investment income (also known as instalment income).
The amount that you pay in PAYG instalments throughout the year will be offset against any owed tax for the entire year. But it is important to lodge your activity statements and pay all PAYG instalments before lodgment of tax returns if you want these to be included in your tax assessment.
There are two options for calculating and paying PAYG instalments:
Instalment Amount: Simplest option which involves paying instalment amounts the ATO calculates based on relevant information.
Instalment Rate: You calculate the instalment amount using instalment rate provided by the ATO and your instalment income. Therefore, dependent on income as you earn it and not predetermined.
