Government contributions superannuation (super) recovery notices are sent to funds to advise them of members who have received an overpayment from us. The notices contain details of super co-contribution or low income super tax offset (LISTO) payments to be recovered from members accounts.
Why we send super recovery notices
We send you a super recovery notice when we have recalculated a member's entitlement to a super co-contribution or LISTO and an overpayment has occurred. We reassess a member's entitlement when either:
- their fund has amended the contribution information previously reported to us to advise that the contributions declared for a member have decreased
- the member's income tax return has been amended (which can be initiated by us or by the member).
The recovery notice
The recovery notice lists the overpaid amounts that should be returned to us. We always send the recovery notice letter and payment slip by mail, but how we send you the overpaid member list depends on your preference. If you prefer paper, we send the overpaid member list with the recovery notice letter.
We generally issue recovery notices to super funds on the fourth weekend of each month.
Notifying members
We do not advise your members at the time of the recovery. The recovery transaction is between us and you. You can decide how you wish to advise affected members. You may notify members in their annual super statement.
What you need to do
You should action recovery notices within 28 days of issue. You can find the due date in:
- the covering letter
- the ECI file if you receive your notice electronically (character 40–47 of the Super Contribution Data Record).
If you cannot return an overpaid co-contribution or LISTO amount advised in a recovery notice, you must lodge a super payment variation advice (PVA). The PVA has codes for explaining why you cannot action the recovery notice, including:
- member contributions have been paid or transferred out
- the member's contributions have been transferred from the member's account
- the member's contributions were in the course of being transferred from the member's account
- action to pay a pension or annuity has commenced
- member account has insufficient funds.
If the member account has funds, but the amount is insufficient to satisfy a recovery notice in full, you should still return as much as you can. For example, if we advise we require the return of $1,000 and you only have $900 remaining in the member's account, you cannot ignore the notice and you should return the $900 to us. You should also lodge a PVA for the missing $100 using the code that explains the shortfall.
As an overpayment of a government contribution is a debt to the Commonwealth, amounts not repaid to us within 28 days of the notice will incur the general interest charge.
See also:
Government contribution superannuation recovery notices are sent to funds to advise them of members who have received an overpayment from us.