The Protecting Your Superannuation legislation is designed to protect your super savings from being eroded, particularly if you have a low account balance. These changes became effective on 1 July 2019.
If your super balance is less than $6,000 or you have insurance through your super, it’s worth understanding how these changes may impact you.
If the balance in any of your super accounts is less than $6,000, you won’t pay more than 3% pa in fees and costs¹. We’ll assess your balances at annual reporting time (or when you exit) and if you’ve paid more than 3% pa in fees and costs on any account with a balance of less than $6,000, you’ll be refunded the difference.
Exit fees on any super account have been removed, effective 1 July 2019.
You may have insurance through your super in the following instances:
From 1 July 2019, we’re unable to provide insurance through super if your account is inactive, unless you tell us you wish to keep your cover. An account is considered inactive if no contribution or rollover has been paid into the account for 16 months.
We’ll let you know that your insurance might be cancelled before taking any action. If you want to keep your insurance, you can let us know by completing and returning the Choose to Keep my Insurance Cover form to us. Regular super contributions or rollovers will also keep your account active and your insurance policy in place, provided there are sufficient funds in your super account to pay the insurance premiums.
You can find out more about these changes here.
If your super balance is less than $6,000 on 30 June or 31 December each year, and the account is inactive², we’re now required to transfer your balance to the ATO. This doesn’t apply to pension and defined benefit accounts, or accounts that provide insurance cover.
The requirement to transfer super balances to the ATO doesn’t apply where:
Also, if none of the above exemptions applies to you, your account may still be exempt from the ATO transfer if any of the following happened in the past 16 months:
We’ll assess your super account every June and December to check whether it meets the inactive criteria. We’ll let you know if you are impacted before taking any action.
If you’re impacted and you don’t want your inactive, low-balance account sent to the ATO, you’ll need to complete the ATO Authority Form or our authority form and send it to us before the advised response date. We’ll also you send this form when we notify you about the transfer.
If we don’t hear from you by the response date, the money in your inactive, low-balance account will be transferred to the ATO. If you want your money returned, you’ll need to contact the ATO directly. You can instruct ATO where to send your account balance or you can wait for the ATO to consolidate the amount into your active account, which receives regular contributions. You will be able to view your account balance and find more information on the ATO website.
¹ These fees and costs include administration fees, investment fees and indirect costs.
² An account is inactive if it hasn’t received any contributions or rollovers for 16 consecutive months or more.
³ A written declaration is not enduring. If your account becomes inactive again – if the criteria above apply – you’ll need to complete a new ATO Authority Form or our authority form to prevent the balance from automatically transferring to the ATO.
This communication is issued by NULIS Nominees (Australia) Limited (ABN 80 008 515 633 AFSL 236465) (NULIS). It is for general information and has not taken into account any particular person’s objectives, financial situation or needs. Before deciding to make a contribution to your superannuation, interested persons should consider the appropriateness of this information having regard to their personal objectives, financial situation or needs. The information contained in this communication is current as at 1 July 2017. Any changes in the law or policy subsequent to this date have not been incorporated in this material.
NULIS is the Trustee of the MLC Super Fund (ABN 70 732 426 024) and the MLC Superannuation Fund (ABN 40 022 701 955). NULIS is part of the National Australia Bank (NAB) group of companies. An investment with NULIS is not a deposit or liability of, and is not guaranteed by NAB. Neither NULIS nor any other company in the NAB group of companies accepts any liability whatsoever for any decision that is made on the basis of or in reliance of the information contained in this material. NULIS is not a Registered Tax Agent and any tax information is of a general nature and should not be relied upon to determine your personal tax situation. It is recommended that you consult a professional tax adviser who is a Registered Tax Agent about your personal circumstances.
