Super Alert – 24 April 2026: ATO updated SG rates, FC dismisses claim seeking TPD benefit under insurance policy
Welcome to the weekly KHQ Super Alert. This week the ATO published updated SG rates for employers together with reminders for trustees about upcoming reporting obligations. Meanwhile, the Federal Court dismissed a claim brought by an applicant seeking a TPD benefit under an insurance policy without complying with the insurer’s request to obtain a medical certification.
Federal Court – TPD claim dismissed for failure to obtain medical certification
On 21 April 2026, the Federal Court published its decision in Nafar v BT Funds Management Limited [2026] FCA 479, a proceeding relating to a TPD claim for benefits from an injury purportedly sustained while the applicant was working as a labourer.
The insurer and superannuation trustee applied to the Court seeking summary judgment on the grounds that no benefit was payable to the applicant as the requirements for the insurance policy to respond had not been met. Specifically, the self-represented applicant had not obtained a certification from a qualified medical practitioner appointed by the insurer that he was ‘continuously and totally unable to perform at least two activities of daily living’.
The Court accepted the respondents’ submissions, dismissed the proceedings and ordered the applicant to pay the respondents’ costs.
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ATO – Reminder to lodge reportable tax position schedule published
On 21 April 2026, the ATO published a reminder that large APRA-regulated super funds will be required to meet the reportable tax position (RTP) schedule obligations. The disclosure obligations apply to those entities that:
- have total fund/business income exceeding $250 million, and
- meet the lodgement criteria set out in the relevant RTP schedule instructions.
The increased regularity of disclosure obligations on large APRA-regulated super funds is intended to:
- ‘promote a level playing field by ensuring super funds…have the same obligations as companies to disclose their most contestable and material tax positions’;
- ‘improve [the ATO’s] focus on maintaining high levels of assurance and [ability to] continue to detect and treat areas of low assurance’;
- ‘continue to streamline [the ATO’s] information gathering process and [tailor its] engagement with taxpayers’; and
- assist the ATO to ‘make informed decisions about future engagements with taxpayers’.
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Legislation –Technical amendment regulations registered
On 20 April 2026, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Minor and Technical Amendments No. 1) Regulations 2026 were registered on the Federal Register of Legislation. According to the Explanatory Statement, the regulations make several technical amendments to financial services laws, including:
- amending ‘the SIS Regulations to allow the regulated superannuation fund to accept Paid Parental Superannuation Contributions payments even if the member’s Tax File Number has not been quoted for superannuation purposes to the trustee’; and
- amending an incorrect cross-reference in regulation 7.7.02A of the Corporations Regulations which relates to providing an FSG if a client has received certain documentation.
Click here for details.
ATO – Updated Superannuation Guarantee rates published
On 17 April 2026, the ATO published an update to the rates and maximum contribution base that apply to SG payments for the 2026/27 financial year.
From 1 July 2026:
- the SG percentage payable is 12%; and
- the maximum superannuation contributions base, being the maximum of an employee’s earnings in relation to which the employer is required to pay SG contributions will be $270,830.
Click here for details.
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