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Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has slapped down suggestions the federal government could water down its superannuation changes, declaring there will be "no changes" to the policy.
He has dismissed claims by accounting peak body CPA Australia that the government underestimated the number of Australians who will be affected by the changes to superannuation rules.
Those changes include a $1.6 million cap on tax-free super, a $500,000 limit on post-tax deposits in the retirement account, the lowering of the cap for concessional contributions to $25,000 and changes to the transition-to-retirement scheme that allows workers to draw down on savings before they retire and will raise a total of about $6 billion.
Amid claims Coalition backbenchers will push for changes to the proposals because of anger among Liberal supporters, Mr Turnbull conceded "no one likes paying more tax" but said it was time to "get real".
Labor has seized on suggestions of Coalition disunity over the changes, releasing an attack ad that suggests "under Mr Turnbull, your super is not safe" and labelling the Prime Minister "out of touch".
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten claimed on Thursday that the tax office had been flooded with questions about the changes and suggested cabinet secretary Arthur Sinodinos - who suggested consultation would take place after the election - was "picking up the jungle drums of angry conservatives".
"The truth of the matter is that this Government is saying one thing before an election, they are already flagging they will do something after an election, and if you can't trust them on superannuation, what can we trust them on in any aspect of their economic plan to keep their promises?"
But Mr Turnbull said: "I've made it clear there will be no changes to the policy. It's set out in the budget and that is the government's policy.
"Some people, around 4 per cent, on high incomes and with high superannuation balances, will have to pay some more tax on their superannuation account - they will pay the 15 per cent tax whereas previously they were paying nothing."
CPA Australia said a poll of 1300 of its members found 70 per cent believe the changes would affect more than 6 per cent clients, above the government's estimate of 4 per cent of taxpayers.
Almost 40 per cent of respondents expected 20 per cent or more of their clients would be affected, while another 25 per cent expected the changes to hit a third of their clients.
Chief executive Alex Malley said the results suggested there was "widespread uncertainty and confusion created by the proposed retrospective changes".
But Mr Turnbull dismissed those findings.
"Nobody knows more about your super than the Australian Taxation Office. They may well know more about your superannuation filings than you do. The figures that have been - that we've used, which is to say that 96 per cent of people in the super system will either be better off or unaffected by the changes - those figures come from the Australian Taxation Office and are verified by the Treasury."
