Transferring your pension benefit from a UK scheme to the Rio Tinto Staff Superannuation Fund

Transcription

1 Transferring your pension benefit from a UK scheme to the Rio Tinto Staff Superannuation Fund The UK rules relating to the transfer of UK pension benefits to overseas funds changed in 2006 and were further amended in April 2012 and October Under these rules overseas transfers can generally only be made to an overseas fund that has been accepted by the UK authorities as a Qualifying Recognised Overseas Pension Scheme ( QROPS ). The (Rio Tinto Fund) is a QROPS. The QROPS reference number is QROPS There are some important things you need to know about transferring your UK pension benefit to the Rio Tinto Fund. Please read this information sheet carefully. The Trustee strongly recommends that you seek advice from a licensed, or appropriately authorised, financial adviser before making a decision to transfer. Before the Trustee can accept the transfer of your UK pension benefit you need to complete and return the form Transferring your pension benefit from a UK scheme to the attached to this fact sheet. The Trustee s obligations as a QROPS One of the conditions of being a QROPS is that the Trustee must report details of any payments made out of the Rio Tinto Fund in respect of members who transfer UK pension benefits in certain circumstances, whether or not those payments have any connection with your UK transfer. The Trustee must report to the UK authorities payments made: within 10 years of the original transfer; or if you are a UK resident at the time the payment is made; or if you have been a UK resident earlier in that UK tax year, or in any of the previous 5 UK tax years. The Trustee must report to the UK authorities within 90 days of the payment. Payments from the Rio Tinto Fund in the first 10 years following a transfer of UK benefits will be reported to the UK authorities whether you are a UK resident or not. The payments that must be reported If you are a UK resident when a payment is made (or have been a UK resident in any of the previous 5 years) or the payment is made within 10 years of the original transfer, the Trustee must report all payments made to or in respect of you. Payments from your Rio Tinto Fund membership must be reported. This includes: cash payments made directly to you (as permitted under Australian superannuation rules) rollovers or transfers to another super fund payments made to beneficiaries in the event of your death contributions splitting payments payments required under Family Law court orders or agreements payments of contributions tax on employer or salary sacrifice contributions and excess contribution tax made in respect of you; and payments of administration fees and insurance premiums from your super account in the Rio Tinto Fund. Payments are deemed to come first from the UK benefit transferred until this amount is exhausted. This means that payments from any non-uk amounts in your Rio Tinto Fund membership must be reported to the UK authorities as if the payment was made from your UK benefit. The UK authorities will treat such payments as a payment from your UK benefit. You may have to pay UK tax on payments If payments are made while you are a UK resident (or have been in any of the previous 5 UK tax years) a UK tax charge of up to 55% of the payment may be levied. This UK tax will apply to any payment that would have been unauthorised if it had been made from a UK scheme. Unauthorised payments are defined in UK laws. We understand that the payments which would be regarded as unauthorised include: cash payments made directly to you (as permitted under Australian superannuation rules) where the amount paid is more than 25% of your UK benefit transferred rollovers or transfers to another super fund that is not a QROPS payments of excess contribution tax contributions splitting payments; and payments required under Family Law court orders or agreements. Website: Fund Member Helpline:

2 Transferring your pension benefit from a UK scheme to the Rio Tinto Fund July 2014 Payments of contributions tax (other than excess contributions tax), administration fees or insurance premiums are not unauthorised payments, but they must still be reported to the UK authorities. The UK authorities will notify you should any tax be payable. Any tax bill will be sent directly to you and it is your responsibility to arrange payment of this tax. When an Australian fund can accept transfers from UK pension schemes Under Australian legislation, restrictions apply on when an Australian super fund can accept amounts transferred from UK pension schemes and how much can be accepted. An Australian super fund: cannot accept any part of a transfer from a UK pension scheme if any of the following apply: you have not provided your Tax File Number to the fund you are age 75 or more when the transfer is received, or you are age 65 or more when the transfer is received and you have not worked at least 40 hours during any period of 30 consecutive days in the financial year in which the transfer is received. cannot accept any part of the amount transferred from a UK scheme that exceeds: $540,000, or $180,000 if you were aged 65 or more on the 1 July immediately prior to the date the transfer is received. You may have to pay Australian tax on your transfer Some Australian tax may be payable on the amount transferred from the UK. The tax rules relating to the transfer of super benefits from the UK are very complex and the Trustee of the Rio Tinto Fund strongly recommends that you seek advice from a licensed, or appropriately authorised financial adviser, before making a decision to transfer. The description below is only a broad summary of the Australian tax rules and your financial adviser will be able to take your particular circumstances into account. Transfers within 6 months of you becoming an Australian resident If you transfer your UK benefit to an Australian fund within 6 months of becoming an Australian resident, generally no Australian tax will apply provided certain conditions are met. Australian tax may apply if, for example: the amount transferred exceeds your vested benefit in your UK pension scheme, or the amount you transferred plus any other nonconcessional contributions* made in the year exceed $540,000 ($180,000 if you are over age 65). Transfers more than 6 months after you became an Australian resident If you transfer your UK benefit more than 6 months after becoming an Australian resident, tax will also be payable on the growth in your UK benefit since you became an Australian resident this isn t new, and is in addition to any tax payable because you exceed the nonconcessional contributions limit. If tax is payable on the growth in your UK benefit, and you have transferred all of your UK benefit to an Australian super fund (including the Rio Tinto Fund), you can elect to have this part of your benefit treated as a taxable contribution in the Australian super fund. This amount will be taxed at 15% in the super fund. (This option may not be available to you if the Trustee is required to return any excess amount to your UK scheme.) You can also choose to pay this tax yourself by including the amount in your assessable income in your annual tax return it will then be taxed at your marginal tax rate. If you wish to have the Rio Tinto Fund pay this tax you must complete a Choice to have your Australian fund pay tax on a foreign super transfer form available from the ATO at or by calling the ATO helpline on *Non-concessional contributions include contributions made from your after-tax salary, transfers from overseas super funds, spouse contributions made for you, certain amounts allocated by the Trustee and any concessional contributions over and above the concessional contributions limit (that have not been refunded). Non-concessional contributions are generally not subject to tax in the Fund, however an annual limit of $180,000 applies to the amount of any nonconcessional contributions that can be made to super. If you are under age 65 at any time during a particular financial year, you can bring forward two financial years of non-concessional contributions and make total non-concessional contributions of up to $540,000 over a three year period. Non-concessional contributions in excess of the relevant limit will be subject to Australian tax at 49% (including Temporary Budget Repair levy). If you need help The rules regarding the transfer of super benefits from the UK are complex, so if you have any queries, you can call the Fund Member Helpline on Important note The information contained in this fact sheet is based on the rules relating to the transfer of UK pensions to overseas funds current at the date of preparation of the fact sheet. The information is not intended to be financial advice or take the place of a financial adviser. It is for general information only and has been prepared without taking into account your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. Therefore before acting on this information, you should consider the appropriateness of it having regard to your personal objectives, financial situation and needs. You may also wish to consult a licensed financial adviser. Issued by Rio Tinto Staff Fund Pty Limited (ABN ), Australian Financial Services (AFS) Licence No , as Trustee of the (ABN ). MySuper authorisation July Website: Fund Member Helpline: RT0313

3 Transferring your pension benefit from a UK scheme to the Rio Tinto Fund About this form This form is for existing members of the Fund wishing to transfer their UK pension benefit to the Rio Tinto Fund. Important notes If you are not already a member of the Rio Tinto Fund you ll need to become one in order for the Fund to be able to accept your transfer. Before completing the form please read the fact sheet Transferring your pension benefit from a UK scheme to the which is attached to this form. If you need help For assistance please call the Fund Member Helpline on The Trustee of the Rio Tinto Fund recommends that you seek advice from a licensed, or appropriately authorised, financial adviser regarding your super before making a decision to transfer. Step 1 Complete your personal details Please print in black or blue pen, in uppercase, one character per box. A Title Mr Mrs Ms Miss Other Date of birth / / Given name(s) Surname Address Suburb State Postcode Daytime telephone Mobile - Membership number Date you were last a UK resident for tax purposes / / see below Sign up for electronic communications By providing your address and mobile number not only will it be easier for the Fund to keep in touch with you but it allows you to receive information electronically if that s your preference. You can tell the Fund how you d like to receive various types of communications by signing into your account on the website and updating your preferences in the Personal details section. Continued over Transferring your pension benefit from a UK scheme to the Issued by Rio Tinto Staff Fund Pty Limited (ABN ), Australian Financial Services (AFS) Licence No , as Trustee of the (ABN ) MySuper authorisation March 2014 RT0307

4 Step 2 Provide details of your UK scheme If you would like to give the Trustee of the RioTinto Fund the authority to deal with your UK scheme directly, please provide the following details. A separate form should be completed if you are transferring benefits from more than one UK scheme. Note, if no details are provided, it will be assumed that you will contact your UK scheme directly to arrange the transfer of your UK benefit. The Trustee will not take any further action until requested to by the UK scheme. Name of the UK scheme Address of UK scheme Postcode Contact person (if available) Membership or policy number National Insurance Number Approximate value of UK benefit $,,. Protecting your privacy We collect, use and disclose personal information about you in order to manage your superannuation benefits and give you information about your super. Our Privacy Policy is available to view at or you can obtain a copy by contacting us on If you do not provide the personal information requested, we may not be able to manage your superannuation. We may sometimes collect information about you from third parties such as your employer, a previous super fund, your financial adviser, our related entities and publicly available sources. We may disclose your information to various organisations in order to manage your super, including our service provider, Mercer Outsourcing Australia Pty Ltd (Mercer), your employer, our professional advisors, insurers, our related companies which provide services or products relevant to the provision of your super, any relevant government authority that requires your personal information to be disclosed, and our other service providers used to assist with managing your super. In managing your super your personal information will be disclosed to service providers in another country, most likely to Mercer s processing centre in India. Our Privacy Policy lists all other relevant offshore locations. Our Privacy Policy sets out in more detail how we deal with your personal information and who you can to talk to if you wish to access and seek correction of the information we hold about you. It also provides detail about how you may lodge a complaint about the way we have dealt with your information and how that complaint will be handled. If you have any other queries in relation to privacy issues, you may contact the Fund Member Helpline on or write to our Privacy Officer, GPO Box 4303 Melbourne VIC Transferring your pension benefit from a UK scheme to the

5 Step 3 Sign the form I understand that: in accordance with Australian legislation, the Trustee of the Rio Tinto Fund may be unable to accept all or part of the benefit transferred from my UK pension scheme and may be required to return all or part of the amount transferred to my UK pension scheme. the Trustee of the Rio Tinto Fund accepts no responsibility for any fees charged or losses incurred in the event that it is unable to accept any part of the benefit transferred and it is returned to my UK pension scheme. if I am a UK resident at the time the Trustee of the Rio Tinto Fund makes a payment in respect of me (or have been a UK resident at any time in the previous 5 UK tax years), or the payment is made within 10 years of the original transfer, the Trustee has an obligation to report details of such payments to the UK authorities. a UK tax liability could arise in relation to payments made in respect of me while I am a UK resident (or have been a UK resident at any time in the previous 5 UK tax years). I understand also that the UK authorities will bill me directly for any such tax and that I will be responsible for payment of such tax. if I elect to transfer part or all of my benefit in the Rio Tinto Fund (which may include a UK transfer amount) to any other superannuation fund in the future, it is my responsibility to check whether the new fund has been accepted as a QROPS. the Trustee of the Rio Tinto Fund accepts no responsibility for any UK tax payable in relation to any payments made in respect of me. my information will be collected, disclosed and used in the manner set out in this form and I consent to this. I have read and understood the fact sheet Transferring your pension benefit from a UK scheme to the Rio Tinto Staff Superannuation Fund. Signature Date / / Please return your completed form to the, GPO Box 4303, Melbourne, VIC Transferring your pension benefit from a UK scheme to the