Mining Tax Repeal – How are you affected?

There’s a lot of hype at the moment as the legislative calendar gets into full swing in the Senate. Recently the government successfully repealed the Mining Tax, which has come with a series of concessions.

So what does that mean for you? Without the politics and media beat-up we want to get to the bottom line and let you know how this will affect you.

For a detailed summary on how the repeal will affect financially, as an employee and as an employer – keep reading…

Mining Tax Repealed 

The Mining Tax is officially titled the ‘Minerals Resource Rent Tax’ and was passed into law by the previous government in 2012. This Bill was largely controversial due to the Australian economy’s heavy dependency on the mining sector.

To repeal the tax however, the Government have had to make some compromises.

How will this affect me financially?

1.      Another change in the superannuation guarantee schedule

2.      Associated tax measures affected

3.      A range of spending measures have been retained for lower income earners

What does that mean?

First of all, don’t take all the hype at face value. An individual’s superannuation is NOT being frozen. All that is being frozen is the percentage which employers must pay into employee’s superannuation, which is being held at 9.5% until 2021.

Several changes to the superannuation guarantee schedule have been proposed in the past. Below is a table outlining approved, proposed and denied schedules *CSG = Compulsory Superannuation Guarantee.

Financial Year	CSG Current	CSG Proposed and defeated 2013	CSG Proposed in 2014/15 Federal Budget	CSG Proposed and passed by Senate Sep 2014
2012/13	9%	9%	9%	N/A
2013/14	9.25%	9.25%	9.25%	N/A
2014/15	9.5%	9.25%	9.5%	9.5%
2015/16	10%	9.25%	9.5%	9.5%
2016/17	10.5%	9.5%	9.5%	9.5%
2017/18	11%	10%	9.5%	9.5%
2018/19	11.5%	10.5%	10%	9.5%
2019/20	12%	11%	10.5%	9.5%
2020/21	12%	11.5%	11%	9.5%
2021/22	12%	12%	11.5%	10%
2022/23	12%	12%	12%	10.5%
2023/24	12%	12%	12%	11%
2024/25	12%	12%	12%	11.5%
2025 and beyond	12%	12%	12%	12%

Other Tax Measures Affected

As with most Bills that pass through both houses of government, there are often other things linked to it. For example the Mining Tax included loss carry back rules, instant asset write off plus simplified depreciation and accelerated deduction for motor vehicles will be affected.

Alright enough accounting ‘geek-speak’ and terminology what does it all mean for you? In some cases it’s really all a bit complicated, but basically the rules of what can be claimed and in what financial period they can be claimed have changed. Fortunately, the rules aren’t retroactive, meaning you won’t be taxed for 2013 but from 2014 the new rules apply.