June Update | The Budget Shake-Up, Your Final Super Window & the 5% Deposit Trap

Message from the Team

June is the month everything comes due.

The end of the financial year is now just weeks away, and the window to act on this year's planning is closing. But this June carries something the last few have not. The Federal Budget handed down on the 12th of May has reshaped the rules around property, capital gains, and trusts in a way that touches almost every one of our clients, and some of those changes are already set in motion.

The theme this month is consequence. Not in an alarming sense, but in the practical one. The decisions made, or not made, in the coming weeks will quietly shape tax bills, investment structures, and family outcomes for years to come. As always, those who act early are better placed, so if anything here prompts a question, please reach out before 30 June rather than after.

 

Money Back You Might Have Missed: The Victorian Registration Rebate

One opportunity worth knowing about is the Victorian Government's 20% vehicle registration rebate.

Victorian vehicle owners could be entitled to a 20% rebate on eligible light vehicle registration payments, worth up to approximately $186 per vehicle, with a maximum of two vehicles per person. For many households, that could mean more than $370 returned for only a few minutes of administration.

The rebate applies if you paid an eligible personal-use light vehicle registration between 1 July 2025 and 30 June 2026. Applications are open through Service Victoria until 31 July 2026.

For more information or to apply, visit the Service Victoria website.

 

The Budget Shake-Up: What the 12th of May Changes Actually Mean for You

The 2026 Budget has been described by the Treasurer as the most ambitious in decades, and it has drawn fierce criticism from almost every direction, with warnings it could push capital and talented young Australians offshore. The politics will play out over the year ahead. What matters for your position is understanding the changes clearly, beneath the noise.

Two stand out, and both warrant attention.

The end of the 50% capital gains tax discount. Since 1999, individuals who held an asset for more than twelve months received a 50% discount on the capital gain when they sold. The Budget replaces this with a discount based on inflation and a minimum 30% tax on gains. In plain terms, the long-standing advantage of holding an asset and timing its sale has been narrowed considerably.

Here is the part many people have missed: this is not just a property story. The change applies broadly across asset classes, including shares, ETFs, managed funds, business assets, and crypto. For younger Australians in particular, who often cannot afford an investment property and build wealth through the share market instead, this quietly changes the maths on long-term investing. If you have filed the Budget away under "property investors," it may be worth a second look.

Negative gearing limited to new builds, and the cut-off that has already happened. From 1 July 2027, negative gearing will only be available on newly constructed dwellings. But the clock on existing properties started ticking on Budget night. Rental losses on existing residential investment properties purchased after 7:30pm on 12 May 2026 will be quarantined, meaning those losses can only be offset against other residential property income, including capital gains, rather than against your salary or other income.

Importantly, existing investors are grandfathered, those who already held their properties keep the old rules. This creates a genuine split between those already in the market and new entrants. A third change worth noting: discretionary trusts now face a minimum 30% tax on distributions, with some exceptions, which materially affects families who distribute trust income as part of their planning.

What this means in plain English: the tax concessions that have underpinned property investment, share investing, and trust planning for a generation have been narrowed. None of this requires panic, and much of it does not take full effect until 2027. But it does reward a clear-eyed review of any structure built on the old assumptions. If you hold investment property or shares, run a trust, or were planning to sell an asset, we strongly suggest a conversation before you act, particularly before buying or selling property, while the detail settles.

 

Feature Insight: Your Final Super Window Before 30 June

As the financial year closes, superannuation is one area many Australians overlook, and it is not just about how much you have saved. It is also about whether you are using the rules available to you at the right time.

There are four key opportunities worth reviewing before 30 June.

1. Use unused concessional contribution caps

If your total super balance is under $500,000, you may be able to use unused concessional contribution caps from the previous five financial years, which accumulate on a rolling basis, with the oldest year's unused cap expiring first.

There is a deadline within the deadline this year: any unused cap from the 2020 to 2021 financial year expires permanently on 30 June 2026. If you do not use it now, it is gone for good. This can be particularly valuable if your income has increased, you have received a bonus, sold an asset and are facing a capital gain, or your business has had a stronger year.

2. Top up this year's concessional contributions

Even if you are not using carry-forward caps, you may still have room under this year's cap. The general concessional contributions cap for the 2025 to 2026 financial year is $30,000, including employer super contributions, salary sacrifice amounts and personal deductible contributions. If you have not used the full cap, there may still be an opportunity to make an additional contribution before 30 June and potentially reduce your taxable income.

3. Review whether after-tax money should move into super

For those with cash available outside super, non-concessional contributions may also be worth reviewing. These are after-tax contributions, and while they do not usually create the same immediate tax deduction, they can help move more of your personal wealth into the super environment for retirement.

The general non-concessional contributions cap for the 2025 to 2026 financial year is $120,000, although eligibility depends on your total super balance and whether bring-forward rules have already been triggered. This may be especially relevant if you are approaching retirement, receiving an inheritance, selling an asset, or holding surplus cash in personal names.

4. Review spouse contributions or contribution splitting

For couples, it is worth checking whether super is balanced effectively between both partners. In some cases, a spouse contribution may provide a tax offset. In others, contribution splitting can help manage retirement balances more evenly over time. This can make a real difference when planning for retirement income, future pension phase strategies and estate outcomes.

It is important to note that most of these only work if you act before 30 June, so it is worth checking which apply to you while there is still time.

 

The Lakeside Lens:
The 5% Deposit Scheme - A Looming Risk Many First Home Buyers Don't See

This one is for the younger members of our community, and for the parents reading who have children entering the market.

The expanded 5% Deposit Scheme has made it far easier to buy a first home. Since the scheme broadened in October 2025, eligible first home buyers can purchase with just a 5% deposit, on properties worth up to $1.5 million in some areas, without paying lenders mortgage insurance, because the government guarantees the rest. On the surface, this is a welcome leg-up into an expensive market.

But there is a structural risk that deserves to be understood before signing anything.

With a 5% deposit, you start with almost no equity buffer. If property values fall even modestly, a borrower can quickly find themselves in negative equity, owing more than the home is worth. The numbers tell the story. The average first home buyer loan reached around $607,000 in late 2025, a record rise of more than 8% in a single quarter, with loan sizes now growing faster than property prices themselves. When the debt grows faster than the value behind it, the buffer disappears.

The part that catches people out is what happens next. A borrower in negative equity is effectively locked in. You generally cannot sell without crystallising a loss, and you cannot refinance to a better rate, because lenders assess against the home's current value, not what you paid. One of the main tools for managing rising repayments, refinancing, is removed at exactly the moment it would be most useful. And with the RBA having lifted the cash rate three times this year, repayment pressure is real.

To be clear, this is not a widespread crisis today, the RBA notes that fewer than 1% of borrowers are currently in negative equity. But the risk is concentrated precisely among recent buyers who entered with very small deposits. For a young family stretching to get in, that is worth understanding clearly before committing.

None of this means the scheme should be avoided, for many it is a genuine path to ownership. But it rewards going in with eyes open, with a realistic buffer for rate movements and a clear understanding of the value-to-debt position. The right question is not simply "which scheme is best?" but "which one solves my situation, and what happens if values move against me?" We are always happy to model this through before a contract is signed.

 

Introducing Wealth Locker:

Your Whole Financial World, in one secure place.

Much of what we have covered this month comes back to one idea: the whole picture matters more than any one part of it. That idea is exactly what has shaped something we are proud to share with you this month.

Ross, the founder of Lakeside, has been building Wealth Locker, a secure online vault that brings your entire financial world into one organised place, accessible anytime from your phone or computer. Your insurance policies, superannuation, Will and estate documents, loan details, car and home insurance, all in the one place, always at your fingertips when you need them.

You simply upload any document and Wealth Locker does the rest, reading each page, filing it automatically, and flagging a policy before it lapses or a gap before it costs you.

Its quietest feature may be its most valuable. You can nominate trusted legacy contacts, so that if something ever happened to you, the people you love would find everything in one place at the very moment it would be hardest to go searching. With over 35 years in the industry, we have seen how much that one detail can spare a family when it matters most.

As a thank you for being part of the Lakeside community, we would like to give you Wealth Locker free for the rest of 2026. If you would like to take a look, simply reach out. We would be more than happy to walk you through it and help you get set up adding what we hold on file, between your insurances and Wills.

A look inside Wealth Locker:

Explore Wealth Locker

 

Book Your Pre-30 June Review

We are now in the final weeks before 30 June, and availability for pre-EOFY planning is limited. If there is anything in this edition that applies to your position, the time to act is now rather than after the window closes.

Whether it is your super contributions, a trust or investment structure affected by the Budget, a property decision, or simply making sure nothing has been overlooked before financial year end, we are here to help you head into the new financial year with clarity and confidence.

Please don't hesitate to reach out. We'd love to hear from you.

Warm regards,

The Lakeside Financial Team