From 31 March, individuals have been able to login to myGov and register their interest in the coronavirus early release of super measure with the ATO.
The ATO has since revealed that by the end of 2 April, a total of 361,000 registrations of interest had taken place.
“In terms of the number of people registering, this should be used as a high level indicator of volumes of those who may eventually apply for early release of super only,” the Tax Office cautioned.
In other words, registration of interest does not necessarily mean that all individuals will later complete the application process.
The early access to superannuation provision was announced as part of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s second stimulus package.
It allows individuals to withdraw $10,000 before the end of the 2019-20 financial year, and a further $10,000 in the upcoming financial year.
While industry bodies have acknowledged the need for assistance to be given to financially vulnerable Australians, it has been argued such an action “should be a last resort”.
The Australian Institute of Superannuation Trustees’ CEO, Eva Scheerlinck, said early release of super could have “potentially far-reaching implications both on individual Australians and the broader national economy”.
In a similar vein, Industry Super Australia has promoted the need for “extreme caution” in accessing super fund assets, and has advocated for members to “only think about cracking open their super after they’ve taken up the extra cash support on offer from the government”.
Research institution SuperRatings has also called for a reshaping of the current proposal, concerned that “there must be a better way” to earmark an eligible group of people for the scheme. It has proposed three options to improve the government’s “shotgun approach”.
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