Accepting notices
To help your members claim or vary a tax deduction for personal super contributions, you must:
- accept notices – ensure the notice is valid, in the approved form and given to you within the timeframes
- ensure a variation notice doesn't increase the amount to be claimed
- acknowledge notices
- report a notice of intent to claim a deduction.
Validity
If a notice is invalid, you must not accept it and should advise your member. A notice will be invalid if any of the following apply:
- it is not related to the contribution
- it includes all or a part of an amount covered by a previous notice
- when the member gave you the notice
- they were not a member of the fund or holder of the retirement savings account (RSA)
- you no longer held the contribution
- you had begun to pay a super income stream based in whole or part on the contribution.
- before the member gave you the notice
- they had made a contributions splitting application in relation to the contribution
- you had received the application and not rejected it.
A notice can cover only personal contributions. The following are not personal contributions:
- rolled over super benefits
- benefits transferred from a foreign super fund
- a directed termination payment paid by an employer (under transitional arrangements that applied until 30 June 2012)
- salary sacrificed amounts.
Approved form
Ensure your members have used an approved form to provide the notice. An approved form is one of the following:
- Our paper form Notice of intent to claim or vary a deduction for personal super contributions
- A branded paper form you provide to your member that contains all the information required as per our form, including the member declaration and instructions for completing the form
- A letter from the member stating they wish to claim a tax deduction for a specific amount of their personal super contributions and including at least the following information:
- first name
- family name
- date of birth
- fund name
- fund member account number
- the financial year in which the personal contributions were made
- the total amount of personal contributions made to the fund or RSA in that financial year
- the amount they intend to claim as a tax deduction
- a declaration that they are lodging this notice by the due date
- a statement that the information contained in the letter is true and correct
- their signature
- the date.
- An electronic form, provided the form has been developed in accordance with the Guide for Super Funds to develop a virtual (electronic) form version of the Notice of Intent to claim or vary a deduction for personal super contributionsExternal Link.
If a paper notice doesn't contain all the required information, or a virtual form wasn't developed in accordance with the guide, the member won't be providing a notice in the approved form and may be denied an income tax deduction.
Variations
Only accept variations that reduce the amount of the deduction to be claimed (including reducing it to nil).
A variation is not effective if:
- the person is no longer a member of the fund
- the fund no longer holds the contribution
- the fund has begun paying an income stream based in whole or part on the contribution.
The member can vary their notice of intent to claim a deduction using any of the approved forms for providing a notice. If they are writing a letter to you, they need to include the same information as in their original notice, plus a statement that they wish to vary their previous notice to reduce the amount claimed. They must also specify the amount they now intend to claim (which may be nil).
The member must also have signed a declaration that they're providing this variation within the relevant timeframe.
If a member wants to increase the amount they are going to claim as a tax deduction, they must lodge a separate notice of intent to claim a deduction for the additional amount. This will be a new notice rather than a variation.
Timeframes
A member must give you their notice (or variation) by whichever of the following dates occurs first:
- the day they lodge their income tax return for the income year in which the contribution was made
- the end of the income year following the income year in which the contribution was made.
These timeframes doesn't apply where we've disallowed a member's deduction, and a variation is being made to reduce the amount claimed by the amount not allowable.
The member is required to sign a declaration to say that they've given you the notice (or variation) within the relevant timeframe.
Timeframes when varying the notice
A valid notice of intent can't be revoked or withdrawn but the member may vary the notice to reduce (even to nil) the amount they want to claim. They must do this within the timeframes.
If we disallow a deduction your member has claimed, the member may vary the notice to reduce their claim by that amount. This variation is not subject to the timeframes.
Always advise your members of the reasons for rejecting their notices and of any actions they can take to lodge valid ones. This may reduce the frequency of escalated complaints.
Acknowledging notices
You must acknowledge your member's valid notice immediately, unless the value of their super interest is less than the tax that would be payable if you were to acknowledge the notice.
Your acknowledgment should include:
- a statement that you have received their notice of intent to claim a deduction
- the date
- your fund received the original notice
- your fund received any subsequent variations
- of the acknowledgment
- the member's account and fund details
- the total amount of personal contributions the original notice covers and amount the member currently intends to claim as a deduction
- the date the contributions were made or the income year they were made in.
This information will ensure that your members are able to claim the deductions they're entitled to, and that the correct super co-contributions and excess contributions tax outcomes apply to them.
You must also advise your member if their notice is invalid.
Additional requests for acknowledgment
If your members have lost or failed to receive your acknowledgment, they may request a new acknowledgment. You can either:
- provide them with a copy of the original acknowledgment
- confirm their original notice is valid and provide them with a new acknowledgment.
Reporting of a notice of intent to claim a deduction
You're required to notify us of certain details pertaining to a member's notice of intent that has been received and acknowledged as valid by you. These details, and the specifications regarding how they should be reported, are contained in the Member Account Transaction Service (MATS) Business Implementation GuideExternal Link.