{"id":"BILL-r7412","name":"Treasury Laws Amendment (Supporting Choice in Superannuation and Other Measures) Bill 2025","slug":"treasury-laws-amendment-supporting-choice-in-superannuation-and-other-measures-bill-2025","collection":"bill","jurisdiction":"commonwealth","status":"in_force","isInForce":true,"actNumber":null,"makingDate":null,"administeringDepartment":null,"currentVersion":{"id":446035,"registerId":"commonwealth-BILL-r7412-current","compilationNumber":null,"startDate":"2026-05-05","status":"royal_assent","reasons":null,"registeredAt":null},"sections":[],"analysis":{"summary":{"status_summary":"The bill received royal assent on 26 March 2026 and is now Act No. 12 of 2026.","complexity_score":6,"likely_questions":["When must employers begin using the new superannuation choice form process?","Which organisations receive income tax exemptions for Rugby World Cup activities?"],"complexity_factors":["Multiple unrelated schedules covering superannuation, tax exemptions, double tax agreements and rebates","Technical compliance requirements for employers and specific industry entities with staggered start dates"],"plain_english_summary":"The Act reforms superannuation choice and advertising rules—requiring employers to issue a standard choice form from 27 March 2026 and banning targeted superannuation ads to new hires from 1 July 2026—affecting employers, employees and funds and changing onboarding compliance.\n\nIt also grants tax exemptions to World Rugby (covering Rugby World Cups), implements the Australia–Portugal tax convention, updates deductible gift recipient listings, and raises the wine producer rebate—altering tax outcomes for rugby organisations, donors, wine producers and taxpayers."},"flash_summary":{"complexity_score":6,"scope_assessment":{"changed":true,"description":"Yes. Although the title emphasises \"Supporting Choice in Superannuation,\" the Act materially extends beyond that single objective. Schedules 1–2 deal with superannuation onboarding and advertising rules (core to the title), but Schedules 3–6 introduce unrelated tax measures: time‑limited, entity‑specific income tax exemptions for Rugby organisations (Schedule 3); domestic implementation of a Portugal tax convention (Schedule 4); multiple updates to the Deductible Gift Recipient list with time‑limited windows (Schedule 5); and an increase to the WET producer rebate cap (Schedule 6). Those additional measures broaden the Act from a focused superannuation choice package to a package combining superannuation procedural rules with a range of discrete tax policy changes affecting specific industries and organisations."},"complexity_factors":["6 distinct schedules addressing different subject areas (superannuation, corporations law, income tax, international tax agreements, DGR listings, wine tax)","Cross‑references to multiple Acts (Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992; Corporations Act 2001; Income Tax Assessment Acts 1936 & 1997; International Tax Agreements Act 1953; A New Tax System (Wine Equalisation Tax) Act 1999)","Several newly inserted subsections and multiple targeted table insertions in ITAA 1997 (items 9.6–9.13)","Advertising ban (new s 992AB) contains multiple layered exceptions with conditions (stapled fund, employer default fund, MySuper conditions, distributors)","Civil penalty attachment (s 1317E cross‑reference) increases legal consequence complexity","Temporal conditions throughout (many provisions limited to specific date ranges or future commencement dates)","Specific‑named entity relief (Rugby, DGRs) requires precise statutory naming and creates narrow applications","Regulatory discretion and need for guidance on indeterminate standards (e.g. “targeted”, “could reasonably be expected” to induce)","Amendments to DGR tables include special‑condition windows and replacements across several table items","Commencement schedule staggers different parts (immediate, 1 July 2026, 1 April 2026, etc.), requiring tracking for compliance"],"plain_english_summary":"**What this Act changes (mechanics first)**\n\n- **Schedule 1 — Employee onboarding (Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992)**\n  - Adds limited timing rules about when employers can rely on certain default contribution rules. Specifically, two new subsections (32C(1B) and 32C(2A)) say those default rules do not apply if the employer is required to give a standard choice form and has not yet done so. The exception stops applying once the form is provided. It also allows employers to make a stapled‑fund request before, at or after giving the standard choice form (new 32R(1A)). (See items 1–4 of Schedule 1.)\n  - Who this affects: employers, new employees, and superannuation funds. It changes the timing and effect of default contributions where the employer has not given the statutory “choice of fund” paperwork.\n\n- **Schedule 2 — Ban on advertising superannuation products during onboarding (Corporations Act 2001)**\n  - Inserts a general prohibition (new s 992AB) on advertising or making statements about a superannuation product to a new employee between the time the employee accepts an offer and the employer first complies with the statutory choice‑of‑fund requirements. The ban applies where the communication is targeted at the employee (or a class including them), not publicly accessible, and could reasonably be expected to induce the employee to choose the product. The provision is a civil penalty offence (referenced to s 1317E).\n  - The provision contains multiple explicit exceptions: the employee’s stapled fund; the employer’s nominated default fund (as disclosed on the standard choice form); certain MySuper products meeting recent determinations (with conditions including regulatory disclosures and being after the stapled‑fund request/notification); and content distributors who reasonably did not know advertising would breach the prohibition.\n  - Who this affects: superannuation trustees and funds, employers and recruiters, intermediaries that produce targeted onboarding material, and businesses that distribute advertising content. The ban removes a particular channel for funds to market to newly hired employees during onboarding.\n\n- **Schedule 3 — Income tax and withholding tax exemptions for Rugby World Cups (Income Tax Assessment Acts 1936 & 1997)**\n  - Adds named entities (Rugby Australia, several World Rugby entities and specified subsidiaries) to the list of entities whose income relating to the men’s Rugby World Cup 2027 and the women’s Rugby World Cup 2029 is treated as exempt from income tax for specified date ranges (income derived on or after 1 July 2023 and before 1 July 2031 for the listed items). (See new items in section 50‑45 of the ITAA 1997 and related amendments.)\n  - Who this affects: the named Rugby organisations and their wholly‑owned subsidiaries, and the Australian tax base (because specified income is exempt). It is narrowly targeted, time‑limited tax relief tied to income from those tournaments.\n\n- **Schedule 4 — Portuguese tax convention (International Tax Agreements Act 1953)**\n  - Gives legislative recognition to the Convention and protocol between Australia and Portugal (done 30 November 2023) by adding a definition and placing it in the schedule of international tax agreements. This gives the treaty legal effect in domestic law for relevant purposes.\n  - Who this affects: taxpayers with cross‑border ties to Portugal and the Commissioner’s administration of the treaty.\n\n- **Schedule 5 — Changes to Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) listings (Income Tax Assessment Act 1997)**\n  - Updates the list of organisations that count as DGRs: renames, removes, and adds several specific charities and organisations and sets time windows (special conditions) for when gifts are deductible (several entries require gifts to be made between specified dates). It extends and amends special conditions for some existing listed items.\n  - Who this affects: specific named not‑for‑profits, their donors, and tax administration (because the list and time windows determine who can claim a tax deduction for donations).\n\n- **Schedule 6 — Increase in Wine Equalisation Tax (WET) producer rebate**\n  - Raises the annual maximum WET producer rebate from $350,000 to $400,000 per eligible producer. The increase applies to assessable dealings on or after 1 July 2026.\n  - Who this affects: eligible wine producers (who can claim a larger rebate) and government revenue (the fiscal cost of the higher cap).\n\n**Official rationale (as stated by the government)**\n\n- The changes to onboarding and the advertising ban are said to promote genuine employee choice by preventing targeted marketing that could influence new employees before they receive the statutory choice form and to make the timing rules clearer (Schedules 1–2).\n- The Rugby tax measures are presented as time‑limited tax exemptions to support staging the Rugby World Cups in Australia (Schedule 3).\n- The Portuguese convention insertion implements an international tax treaty (Schedule 4).\n- DGR list updates reflect government decisions to add or remove specific organisations and to set time windows for deductibility (Schedule 5).\n- The WET rebate increase is stated to support eligible wine producers by increasing the producer rebate cap (Schedule 6).\n\n**Testing those purpose claims against costs, incentives and trade‑offs**\n\n- Who pays and who benefits: the advertising ban primarily restricts funds and their marketers (cost to those organisations) and benefits new employees by temporarily limiting targeted onboarding marketing; employers incur administrative costs to ensure they have complied with the timing rule for giving the standard choice form. The Rugby tax exemptions and the WET rebate increase are targeted fiscal measures that reduce tax collected from specific beneficiaries (Rugby entities and wine producers), representing an opportunity cost to the budget. The DGR listings allow tax deductions for donors to named organisations — a fiscal cost concentrated on the budget and a concentrated benefit to the named charities.\n\n- Behavioural incentives and private choice: the onboarding changes make the statutory choice process the operational trigger for employer defaulting to or away from certain funds; the advertising ban reduces a direct marketing channel, which may change how funds attempt to attract new members (they may shift to broader public advertising or earlier engagement). Tax exemptions for named entities may create incentives to route income through listed subsidiaries or to classify activities as tournament‑related; the exemption is time‑limited and entity‑specific, so structuring incentives are constrained to those named entities and the dates in the law.\n\n- Compliance burden, ambiguity and implementation risk: the advertising prohibition uses terms that will require regulator guidance — e.g. when an advertisement is “targeted” (vs publicly accessible), and the test that it “could reasonably be expected” to induce a choice. Employers and funds will need to record timing (when the offer is accepted; when the standard choice form is provided; when stapled‑fund requests and responses occur). The MySuper exception has conditional requirements (recent determinations, connected‑entity tests, regulatory disclosures), increasing operational complexity for trustees and employers. The civil penalty framing means the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) or courts will interpret those terms — initial uncertainty is likely until guidance or case law clarifies boundaries.\n\n- Concentrated vs diffuse effects and capture risk: several amendments grant benefits to named, time‑limited organisations (World Rugby and listed subsidiaries; specific DGRs). Those are concentrated beneficiaries (clear, named recipients); the cost is borne by the general revenue base (diffuse). The mechanism is explicit naming and time limits in the statute (see Schedule 3 items 9.6–9.13 and Schedule 5 listings).\n\n- Cross‑regulatory effects and administrative coordination: the new Corporations Act prohibition cross‑references the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act timing and the SIS/MySuper framework; tax amendments interact across ITAA 1936/1997 and the International Tax Agreements Act. Administrations of the ATO, ASIC and Treasury will need to coordinate advice and guidance for employers, funds and affected taxpayers.\n\n**Key operational takeaways (practical)**\n\n- Employers must watch the timing of giving standard choice forms: default contribution rules can’t be relied on where a form should have been given but wasn’t. (Schedule 1.)\n- Super funds and advisers cannot run targeted, non‑public onboarding marketing that could induce a new hire to choose their product during the period from job acceptance to the employer’s first compliance with the choice‑of‑fund rules — unless a specific statutory exception applies. That creates a compliance risk and likely need for revised onboarding communications. (Schedule 2, new s 992AB.)\n- Named Rugby organisations receive time‑limited, event‑tied tax exemptions for income linked to the 2027 and 2029 Rugby World Cups; this is narrowly targeted by name and date. (Schedule 3.)\n- The treaty with Portugal is now listed in domestic law, so its rules will apply in taxation contexts as enacted. (Schedule 4.)\n- The DGR table is adjusted: some organisations gain (with specified donation windows), some are removed or renamed — donors should check the updated list before claiming deductions. (Schedule 5.)\n- Eligible wine producers can claim up to $400,000 per year under the WET producer rebate from 1 July 2026. (Schedule 6.)\n\n"}},"importantCases":[],"_links":{"self":"/api/acts/treasury-laws-amendment-supporting-choice-in-superannuation-and-other-measures-bill-2025","history":"/api/acts/treasury-laws-amendment-supporting-choice-in-superannuation-and-other-measures-bill-2025/history","analysis":"/api/acts/treasury-laws-amendment-supporting-choice-in-superannuation-and-other-measures-bill-2025/analysis","conflicts":"/api/acts/treasury-laws-amendment-supporting-choice-in-superannuation-and-other-measures-bill-2025/conflicts","importantCases":"/api/acts/treasury-laws-amendment-supporting-choice-in-superannuation-and-other-measures-bill-2025/important-cases","documents":"/api/acts/treasury-laws-amendment-supporting-choice-in-superannuation-and-other-measures-bill-2025/documents"}}