Generally within the superannuation industry, ourselves included, you will hear a lot about the manifest unfairness of the current excess contributions regime.
Not only are the current contribution caps too low to allow for adequate retirement savings, the penalties that apply if you exceed these caps is punitive to say the least.
Since writing the module on contribution cap penalties, the government has come out and announced that they will allow a once off refund up to $10,000 if a concessional contribution cap is exceeded accidentally.
However there is no such relief for breaches of the non-concessional cap (and remember these carry a 46.5% penalty tax). But whatever you do, if you make a contribution by mistake, don't try to fix it by drawing the money back out again.
Unless you have satisfied a condition of release this simply gives you a compliance problem that could be even more expensive. It is unfortunate that the government approaches super contributions with such a suspicious and cynical attitude.
Apparently there is no such thing as a mistake, rather you are only trying to defraud the tax revenues and therefore stomped on by the penalty regime. There are rumors that the $10,000 concession only came about because one of the ministers made a 'mistake' and having realized the error thought it only just that an error such as theirs should be allowed to be reversed.
Who knows. but if this is true it either shows a blatant self interest, or a continuing lack of imagination. I could only hope they make a similar 'mistake' next year and have to rethink the once off nature of the concession.
