Meeting your obligations
You have met your MAAS lodgment obligations once you receive a technical receipt.
If you or your service provider receive an error response from our service, you have 30 days to remediate the error from when you become aware of it.
When will an error be returned
An error will be returned if:
- mandatory member information is not provided
- information is provided in an incorrect format. In this instance the message fails validation and an error will be returned.
An error will be returned when the MAAS message is successfully formatted but either:
- a more recent member account request has already been processed (CMN.ATO.SPRMBRINFO.099264)
- the reported account belongs to a different account holder (CMN.ATO.SPRMBRINFO.096604).
When an error is returned from our service the message is prevented from being processed in our systems. The information will not be displayed on ATO Online for your member to view nor will we be able to use it to interact with your member until you remediate the error and resubmit the message to us.
A comprehensive list of the errors returned from the MAAS can be found in the current MAAS BIGExternal Link. Most of these errors are warnings or informational and require some level of remediation by you.
Your obligation to address errors and unmatched responses
Your obligation to resolve unmatched responses and remediate errors are covered under section 390-115 of Schedule 1 to the TAA.
If you receive an error after receiving a technical receipt the MAAS message will not be processed and you are required to correct the message before resubmitting it to us.
Reasonable steps need to be taken to determine if there is a material change or material omission in any information you provided. Where you become aware of a material change or omission and are required to correct an error or unmatched response, you have 30 days to provide the corrected information to the Commissioner via the MAAS. All steps taken to remediate an unmatched response should be documented in line with your record keeping obligations.
What is reasonable depends on the specifics of each case and how likely your efforts would be to achieve a result.
For example:
- if the account has been created by an employer then we recommend you contact the employer in the first instance
- if the member has a financial advisor, we recommend you contact the financial advisor
- if you are unable to confirm details through an employer or financial advisor, we recommend you contact the member directly.
Example: message will not be processed
A super fund receives a CMN.ATO.SPRMBRINFO.096604 error: the reported account belongs to a different account holder. This means the message will not be processed.
If the fund is unable to resolve the error within 30 days, they will need to either report the account as ‘closed’ under the different account holder or contact the ATO to confirm the identity of the account holder.
Remediation work will need to be undertaken before the MAAS message is resubmitted to the ATO.
End of exampleAccount phase must correspond to the correct account status
An error will be returned if you don't report the correct phase with the correct corresponding status.
If the account phase is 'Accumulation', then the account status must be either:
- open
- transition to retirement income stream.
If the account phase is 'Retirement', then the account status must be:
- non capped defined benefit income stream
- capped defined benefit income stream (1 July 2017 onwards)
- capped defined benefit income stream (pre 1 July 2017)
- market linked capped defined benefit income stream.
If the account phase is 'Insurance Only', then the account status must be Open.
If the account phase is 'Closed', then the account status must be Closed.
See also