The former Government’s first effort at alleviating the harsh operation of the excess concessional contributions (ECCs) regime was firstly introduced with effect from 1 July 2011 (and operated for the 2011/12 and 2012/13 years). Those rules operated so that on the first occurrence of an individual having ECCs, provided such ECCs were $10,000 or less, the individual had a one off choice of having up to 85% of their ECCs refunded where that amount refunded was subject to marginal tax rates (subject to satisfying certain criteria). Given the restrictive nature of this measure, it was roundly criticised as being inadequate.