Faced with tough times some people may be thinking about accessing their super early. Your members may have been approached by a promoter claiming they can withdraw their super or use a self-managed super fund (SMSF) to pay off debts, buy a car, or pay for a holiday.
This is illegal and we have developed a fact sheet Accessing your super early may be illegalThis link will download a file to help your members recognise the warning signs.
We’re asking super funds to remind members that super is for retirement. Members need to meet very strict conditions to access their super early. Accessing their super outside of these strict conditions is illegal.
We want members to know illegal early access to super has serious consequences. It can have a significant impact on their retirement savings, result in additional tax, penalties and interest, and lead to them being disqualified from ever being able to be an SMSF trustee again. Where trustees are disqualified, their name is published and this can affect their personal and professional reputation.
If a promoter gets a member to provide them with enough personal information, they may also steal their identity and use it to access their super for themselves.
Members can report any promoters of illegal access to super schemes using our tip off form.
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