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Small business retirement exemption explained

If you are a small business owner looking to use the capital built up in your business to help fund your retirement, you’re in luck. There are two capital gains tax (CGT) exemptions with the potential to boost your super when you sell your business assets.

Learn more about how you can use these small business CGT exemptions to boost your super.

The most generous exemption is the 15-year exemption which we detail in our guide here.

This article covers the small business retirement exemption (Subdivision 152-B of the Tax Act) that can be applied if you are not eligible for the 15-year exemption.

For this exemption the business owner can disregard a lifetime limit of up to $500,000 of capital gains when they dispose of an active asset. There is no age limit on when you can take advantage of this exemption, but if you are under 55 you must contribute the amount into a super fund and you can only make contributions to super up to age 75.

Business owners can choose to disregard all or part of a capital gain under this exemption.

Coming changes to CGT

From 1 July 2027, the flat 50% CGT discount will be replaced by a new discount for indexation and a minimum tax rate of 30% on assessable gains.

The change is prospective. Any incease in business value accrued before 1 July 2027 continues to attract the 50% CGT discount and no minimum tax rate applies to it.

The four current small business CGT concessions will remain in place and the 50% active assets reduction will be extended to small businesses with aggregated turnover of less than $10 million (up from $2 million).

How does the small business retirement exemption work?

When you sell an active business asset and make a capital gain, a decision must be made as to what to do with that gain once any capital losses are also applied.

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Responses

  1. Terry Bennett Avatar
    Terry Bennett

    Can you please clarify on whether the 75 year age limit applies to the Retirement exemption. At the beginning of the article you state there is no age limit, but later on state that after 75 you cannot contribute. thanks

    1. SuperGuide Avatar
      SuperGuide

      Thank you for your question.

      There is no age limit to apply for the exemption, but ATO says that if at the time you apply for the exemption you are under 55, you must make the contribution into super. However, the age limit of 75 applies to the general rule of not being able to make non-concessional super contributions. Also, as per ATO, if you are older than 55 when you make the choice to access the retirement exemption, there is no requirement to pay any amount to a complying super fund or RSA, even though you may have been under 55 years old when you received the capital proceeds.

      So, age 55 and age 75 are two different aspects.

      Please note, this is factual information only. You can refer to more information on the ATO website.

      Best wishes
      The SuperGuide team

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