The 2012 Federal Budget only contained few surprises as many of the measures had already been legislated or pre-announced.
The main winners were lower income earners, families and the elderly.

Federal Budget 2012 summary

The key new announcements include:

• tax may increase on certain employment termination payments
• the reduction in the company tax rate isn’t going ahead
• the increase in the concessional contribution cap for people aged 50 or over with less than $500,000 in super will be postponed until 1 July 2014
• the tax payable on concessional super contributions by people earning $300,000 pa or more will increase from 15% to 30%, and
• a ‘SchoolKids Bonus’ of $820 a year for each child at high school and $410 for every child in primary school will automatically be paid to parents who are eligible for Family Tax Benefit Part A, replacing the Education Tax Refund.

The Government has also confirmed that:

• people earning under $80,000 pa will receive modest tax cuts
• the minimum income payments for a superannuation pension/income stream won’t increase until 1 July 2013, and
• funding will go ahead for the landmark changes to Australia’s Aged Care System announced recently.

For further information – read here 2012 Federal Budget Summary