Member intends to claim a deduction
If a member intends to claim an income tax deduction for their own personal superannuation contributions, they must:
- meet the eligibility requirements to claim the deduction
- notify you of their intent to claim.
The member must give you the notice in an approved form (or variation of notice) by the earlier of the:
- time they lodge their personal income tax return for the financial year during which the contribution was made
- end of the financial year following the year the contribution was made.
Responding to a notice of intent to claim
You must check your member's notice is valid and then acknowledge it without delay.
The notice will only be valid if:
- the member provides it in the approved form
- when the member gave you the notice
- they were a member of the SMSF
- the fund still held the contribution (ensure a partial rollover hasn't occurred that included the contribution)
- the fund had not paid a lump sum nor commenced paying a superannuation income stream based on whole or part of the contribution
- it is related to the contribution
- it doesn't include all or a part of an amount covered by a previous notice
- it is a variation notice that is decreasing the amount to be claimed
- it only relates to personal contributions
- the fund has not processed a contribution splitting application for that contribution.
The following are not personal contributions:
- rolled over super benefits
- benefits transferred from a foreign super fund
- salary-sacrificed amounts.
If you determine that the notice is not valid, you must advise the member of this, and the member will not be able to claim a deduction for the personal contribution made.
You should always advise members of the reason their notices are rejected and of any actions they can take to ensure their notices are valid.
Approved forms for notices
You must ensure members have used an approved form to provide the notice. If the notice doesn't contain all required information, it will not be valid.
An approved form is one of the following:
- Notice of intent to claim or vary a deduction for personal super contributions (NAT 71121) paper form.
- A branded paper form you provide, which specifies all the information contained in the NAT 71121 paper form. You should also provide them with the instructions for completing the form.
- A letter stating that they wish to claim a tax deduction for their personal super contributions and containing the following information
- full name and date of birth
- fund name and member account number
- the financial year in which the contributions were made
- the amount covered by their notice
- the amount they intend claiming as a tax deduction
- a declaration that they are lodging the notice by the due date, that is, by the earlier of the following
- the day they lodged their income tax return for the year in which they made the contributions
- the end of the income year following the one in which they made the contributions
- a declaration that the information contained in their letter is correct and complete
- their signature and the date.
- An electronic form given to you by the member, provided that the form was 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.
Acknowledging notices
You must check your member's notice is valid and then acknowledge it without delay.
Your acknowledgement should include:
- a clear statement that you have received their notice of intent to claim a deduction
- the date
- your fund received the notice
- your fund received any subsequent variations
- of the acknowledgment
- the member's account and fund details
- the total amount of personal contributions that the notice covers and, of those, the amount the member intends to claim as a deduction
- the date the contributions were made or the financial year they were made in.
This information is required so:
- your members can claim the deductions they're entitled to
- super co-contributions and excess contributions tax are correctly applied.
You may refuse to acknowledge the notice if the value of the relevant super interest on the day you received the notice is less than the tax that would be payable by you on the contribution
Additional requests for acknowledgment
When your members have lost or failed to receive your acknowledgment they may request a new acknowledgment.
In these circumstances, you can either provide them with a:
- copy or duplicate of the original acknowledgment
- new acknowledgment (confirming their original notice is valid).
Accepting a variation
You can only accept a variation that reduces the amount of the deduction to be claimed (including reducing it to zero).
If your member wants to increase the amount they intend to claim as a deduction, they must lodge a separate notice of intent to claim a deduction for the additional amount.
Generally, variations must be made by the same time as required for the original notice.
If we have disallowed a member's deduction and a variation is being made to reduce the amount claimed by the amount not allowable, the deadline doesn't apply.
Variations will be invalid and can't be accepted if the:
- person is no longer a member of the fund
- fund no longer holds the contribution
- fund has begun paying an income stream based in whole or part on the contribution.
If members write a variation letter to you, they need to include:
- the same information as in their original notice
- a statement that they wish to vary their previous notice to reduce the amount claimed
- the amount they now intend to claim (which can be zero)
- a signed declaration that they are providing this variation within the relevant timeframe.