NetActuary

The Need for Human Controlled Actuarial Certificates

The irony of NetActuary (the renamed original certificate producing arm of Bendzulla Actuarial) calling a halt on fully automated actuarial certificates is not lost on me. However, pilots of Boeing Max8 aircraft would know exactly what I mean. Efficiencies in data capture, computational aspects and report generation with digital support is good – but beyond that is not.

There is a wonderful line in the movie Sully (based on a true story about passengers surviving a crash by landing in the Hudson River). When asked why he didn’t attempt to return to the airfield, Captain Sullenberger said “I eye-balled it!”. His judgement was crucial. A QF39 flight in 2010 en-route from Singapore to Sydney was able to land back in Singapore with jet engine parts through the wing because the pilots overruled the computer which was saying it could not be done. Centrelink RoboDebt and JobKeeper costings also are good examples why leaving it totally to a computer system is dangerous!

Human judgement and control can be critical – including with actuarial calculators. Since resuming actuarial certificates we have seen many examples where a fully automated system would have failed. These include misallocations of contributions between members; inconsistencies with previous reports; classifications as commutations rather than pension payments would preserve TBC margins; pending term completions with legacy life expectancy pensions not having reserve allocations being made etc. etc. Control of segregation/unsegregated via a $10 accumulation component will be another important judgement.

Processing can still be made highly efficient for the administrators and still allow human control of the certificate generation. Will it cost more? The answer is no. The NetActuary 2020/21 processing fee is $77 inclusive of GST for ECPI certificates and $220 inclusive of GST for legacy pension adequacy reports. To get ready for 2020/21, please feel most welcome to contact Brian on (03) 9028 5002 for a chat.

 

Brian Bendzulla

Market-Linked Pension Silver Lining

In response to the investment downturn as a result of the Covid-19 crisis, the Government has reduced the minimum annual payment required for account-based and market-linked pensions. In the 2019-20 and 2020-21 financial years the minimum will be 50% of the normal amount. For some market-linked pensions of a significant size, the net of tax amount will be more

than 50% of the previous net amount received.

Market-linked pensions started before 01/07/2017 are “capped defined benefit income streams”. The pensions can’t be commuted. Consequently, if the pension exceeds the defined benefit income tax cap (currently $100,000) 50% of the excess over this amount will be taxed at the persons current marginal tax rate.

Care will be needed if the pension amounts paid so far exceed the DB income tax when the reduction received Royal Assent on 24/03/2020. One will not be able to revisit past payment. I have altered the min/max market-linked pension calculator on the NetActuary website to show outcomes for a number of years and not just the current financial year. If one needs to test against the ABP minimum payment, there is a calculator for that also.

The Legacy Pensions are going to be challenging this year. Please don’t leave them until the end of the financial year – please!! It may be an opportune time to convert Lifetime Section 1.06(2) legacy pensions to a market-linked pension while assets are low. The fixup legislation for the TBC legislative foul up was in the Senate – so one may need to have faith that it will be enacted with the retrospective date and ATO pragmatism.

In keeping with the community spirit sorely needed by current terms, NetActuary will freeze its 2020/21 fees to $220 inclusive of GST for adequacy reports and $55 for ECPI reports.

For more details, please don’t hesitate to ‘phone Brian on (03) 9028 5002.

 

Brian Bendzulla

Merry Xmas and it's not to late for Actuarial Reports

 

NetActuary wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and a wonderful 2020. We will be working normal business hours during the Festive Season.  So if you are facing a Centrelink legacy pension adequacy or ECPI percentage tax agent lodgment deadline for the end of December - we are here to help.

Many of our clients don't fill in forms.  They simply provide an email with attachments  of a trail balance, general ledger dump and the previous report.  That is sufficient for our work.  Fees are massive competitive at $220 inclusive of gst for adequacy reports and $55 for ECPI reports.  Call Brian on 03-9028 5002 if you would like to discuss.

It's a beautiful time of the year.  I hope you and yours have a peaceful and tranquil Festive Season and may 2020 be a year where the world sees a greater emergence of goodwill, tolerance and support to all it's people.

Brian Bendzulla

 

 

 

New Web Calculator

The market linked/TAP pension payment amount needs to be re-calculated each 1^st July. The pension amount is determined by dividing the account balance by the relevant payment factor from Schedule 6 of the SIS Regulations rounded to the nearest $10. The payment factor is based on the remaining pension term in whole years. The term is rounded up if the pension originally commenced between 1 January and 30 June – or rounded down if commenced between 1 July and 31 December. The actual pension drawn must be between 90% and 110% of the calculated amount.

This new calculator can be found in the NetActuary.com.au website under Technical …Calculators.

NetActuary has a particular interest in assisting with matters that involve old legacy and market linked pensions. For example, we will prepare a legacy pension adequacy and ECPI report for $220 inclusive of GST. That is about half the going industry rate. All we need is the past report plus the current draft accounts.

Please call Brian on (03) 9028 5002 to discuss how we can useful with this type of fund.

 

Brian Bendzulla

 

 

 

 

 

 

Transfer Balance Cap Fixups

Since 01/07/2017 there has been a limit on the total amount of superannuation assets that can be transferred into retirement phase – the transfer balance cap.  Until indexed, this cap is $1.6 million.  A transfer balance account is maintained by the ATO to record events that count towards an individual’s transfer balance cap.  A transfer into retirement phase is a credit and certain transfers out (such as commutations) are debits.

If one had retirement phase assets of more than $1.6 million at 01/07/2017, the excess would normally be rolled back into an accumulation account or withdrawn.  However, things are more complex with legacy defined benefit pensions that can’t be commuted except to start new equivalent income streams.  These “capped defined benefit income streams” have additional tax liabilities instead of retirement phase asset removal.  For example, a lifetime income stream over $100,000 p.a. has 50% of the annual income stream over $100,000 taxed at the person’s marginal tax rate.  PAYG withholding and summary obligations apply to the fund trustees.

For reasons that are hard to understand, a pre-existing market-linked pension (TAP) at 01/07/2017 was classified as a capped defined benefit income stream.  Its’ TBC debit is the annual next pension amount multiplied by the remaining term of the pension in whole years.  This debit is more than the account balance.  Any market linked pension started after 1 July is not a capped defined benefit income stream and has a TBC credit based on the purchase price.  However, the legislation was deficient resulting in a double count for TBC purposes on a market linked pension rollover.  As a stop gap measure via CRT Alert 066/2018 the ATO announced they would not take compliance action if the fund does not report the transfer balance account events of the commutation or the commencement of the new market linked pension.  The permanent fix will be via legislation and it will have a retrospective 01/07/2017 effective date.

Based on lapsed draft legislation before the Federal election, the following is how the new legislation is likely to operate.  The transfer balance account debit will be the debit value of the superannuation interest that supported the superannuation income stream just before the commutation takes place.  This is:

• The original transfer credit; less
  
  
• The amount of any transfer balance debits that have arisen in respect of the pension; less
  
  
• The total amount of superannuation income stream benefits the person was entitled to receive before the start of the financial year in which the commutation takes place; less
  
  
• The greater of the superannuation income received in the financial year in which the commutation takes place or the minimum amount required to be paid to them under the regulations.

For a partial commutation, the transfer account debit is the lesser of the full commutation debit value or the amount of the superannuation lump sum that results from the partial commutation.

Caution is still needed as it may not be possible to commence a new market linked pension without causing an excess transfer balance which can’t be removed due to the non-commutable nature of market linked pensions.

As we did last year with actuarial exempt pension income percentage and adequacy end of year certificates, we will keep an eye open for situations where a better client outcome exists.  NetActuary is keen to be the legacy pension specialist.

Brian Bendzulla

Simple and Low Cost 2019/20

It’s good to have a simple, known fee that will not vary – even if the requirements of the task become more complex. NetActuary is happy to run a simple system so that advisers/administrators/lawyers don’t have to keep checking what the fee will be - the standard fee always applies.  More than that, we will follow whatever the practitioner needs for a particular case that may require a reduced fee/no fee treatment. Being a long-term, useful service provider is far more important to us than the fee received.

The fees (all inclusive of GST) that apply in 2019/20 are:

Actuarial Services
	ABP Tax Exempt % Certificate   Defined Pension Adequacy Report	$55 $220
Services for Advisors
	QROPS Tax Reports   QROPS Application including Deed   Retirement & Property Calculators   White Labelled Web Calculators	$396 $495 $132 $198
Services for Lawyers
	Family Law DB Valuations   Earnings/Super Loss Calculations   Life Interests	$385 $440 $440

Of course, we undertake many other exercises and actuarial calculations, however the above covers the bulk of requests from practitioners. We undertake no financial planning work so there are no potential (actual or perceived) conflicts of interest. All work will be undertaken by a fully qualified actuary. We invite and encourage users of our services to feel most welcome to discuss with us any esoteric aspects to ensure a good outcome for clients.

Brian Bendzulla

 

RETIREMENT PLANNING IS MORE COMPLEX FROM 1st JULY 2019

From 1^st July, 2019 pooled lifetime income streams purchased on or after this date will be assessed under the new means test rules. Under the new rules, 60% of all payments from lifetime income streams will be assessed as income. For the asset test, 60% will be assessed as an asset until they reach the life expectancy for a 65 year old male (currently 84 years old) or a minimum of five years. After that, 30% of the purchase amount will be assessed for the rest of the duration of the lifetime income stream.

Deferred lifetime income streams will be assessed under the same rules as lifetime income streams that make payments immediately. The rules for account-based income streams will not change. Both the Pension Work Bonus and Pension Loan Scheme are being expanded.

It is unlikely that your retirement planning software is up to the task of evaluating “innovative” new retirement products. We are busy enhancing NetActuary modellings. Currently, longevity protection is often provided by a buffer approach. That can be enhanced by: rebalancing; some Age Pension offsets; and maybe the reverse mortgage Pensioner Loan Scheme. What is interesting is whether a client will see a smaller “insurance type” outlay for a deferred annuity as good value versus the unproductive buffer monies. It’s more about retirement income versus less estate legacy. What do you think clients will prefer?

Would you like to collaborate on the calculators needed to show clients the options? I don’t mind if you are a one person planner or the largest super fund in Australia! We are on the cusp of needing more Maths-intensive tools to make client presentations simple.

The retirement income projection calculators are not going to run on Excel. We have combinations of ABP and Deferred Lifetime Annuity allocations, different deferment periods, different asset allocations, different cost of living adjustments etc. to evaluate. The results need to be presented in a manner that shows return and (hence) income level/risk trade-offs.

Dolly Parton once made an astute comment – “It costs a lot of money to look this cheap!” We will have a similar issue. We need a lot of complex algorithms for things to look simple for the client.

 

Brian Bendzulla

 

Time To Roar Again!

I have greatly enjoyed undertaking exempt percentage and adequacy actuarial calculations over the past year. Consequently, NetActuary has decided to focus in 2019-20 on becoming the pre-eminent supplier of legacy pension actuarial reports. This blog outlines how that is going to be achieved.

Firstly, noting that the top three suppliers charge $396, $439 and $440 inclusive of GST - the NetActuary fee will be $220 inclusive of GST.

We don’t mind if you send us only the legacy pension work. I have the advantage of remembering very clearly the heighday of these pensions. NetActuary is also going to increase the number of support tools for this area. Already, there is an actuarial calculator so that you can monitor how liabilities have moved. Another calculator is about to be loaded that helps the administrator set the next year market-linked pension payment amount. This is because we notice where the remaining term is not a whole year, occasionally the wrong round up and down rule is used.

We are very happy to work with advisers to wind up these legacy arrangements – or deal with under/over appropriate reserve issues.

NetActuary needs very little information from you to undertake this work – just the most recent actuarial report and a draft set of accounts – that’s all! However, there are Excel data forms on our website if you prefer.

Please drop us a one-line email if you would like your email added to the proactive material we send out on this area. Capped defined benefit income streams have their own administrative and advice challenges.

 

Brian Bendzulla

UK Lump Sums

Occasionally, an Australian tax resident receives a UK lump sum directly from a UK pension scheme or as a deferred entitlement from the UK State Pension. As this is not directly to an Australian QROPS, it is taxed personally. The rate is often higher than other transfer options. The purpose of this article is to highlight the issues.

The Australian side of the transaction now has a number of private binding rulings. The lump sum – unless it meets the periodic nature for a pension – is assessed under section 305-70 of ITAA 1997. The applicable fund earnings (growth since tax residency) is subject to tax at the person’s marginal tax rate. The remainder of the lump sum payment is not assessable and the income is not exempt income.

Section 770-10 of the ITAA 1997 provides that a foreign income tax offset can be claimed for foreign income tax paid by a taxpayer in respect of an amount that is included in their assessable income. If the offset claimed is A$1,000 or less, the taxpayer does not need to work out their foreign income tax offset limit and only needs to record the actual amount of foreign income tax paid. The limit is basically the proportion of the offset that relates to the Australian assessable proportion.

It is the UK side that is so inconsistent in treatment. Some UK funds and practitioners believe that the payment should be assessed under Article 17 of the UK-Australia Tax Treaty i.e. only taxed in Australia and no withholding tax. Any tax withheld would be subject to a refund application if this was the case. Increasingly, the schemes take the view that the payment falls under Article 20(3) “income not dealt with in foregoing articles” and so can be taxed in both countries.

The UK tax under Article 20(3) depends on whether it is the 25% UK tax free component with an annuity; a Flexi-access drawdown FAD; or an Uncrystallised Funds Pension Lump Sum (UFPLS). It also depends on the “tax code” used. Some emergency tax codes are on a graduated scale and some are not. The higher the tax scale, the more money that is lost with the Australian tax scale limit. Could you please share with us any withholding tax information you may have.

A lump sum from a UK State Pension is not assessed under Section 305-70 of the ITAA 1997. The amount of deferred State Pension lump sum represents that deferred pension and is ordinary income in the year of receipt. It should consequently only be taxed in Australia. Voluntary UK National Insurance Contributions are not expenses that are deductible as they are of a private nature and therefore not deductible under Section 8-1 of ITAA 1997.

There is now a dedicated overseas pension transfer web page on the NetActuary website. Much work remains to turn it into a knowledge base. Any contributions to what is established practice would be appreciated.

Brian Bendzulla

Looming 15th May

15^th May, 2019 is the last date for lodging a superannuation fund return via an accountant or tax agent without a penalty. As you can imagine, many of the ECPI and adequacy actuarial certificates at this stage are not straight forward. This blog provides background information on how the ECPI percentage will vary if one partner has passed away in the financial year.

The Federal Government’s $1.6 million transfer balance cap (TBC) limiting the amount of exempt current pension income (ECPI) applied from 01/07/2017.  It did not increase in 2018/19 financial year and so remains at $1.6m. 

The Transfer Balance Account (TBA) has credits when a retirement phase pension is started and a debit upon commutations.  The credits are created at the transaction date and not subsequently adjusted.  This means that subsequent net earnings and growth are ignored.  A reversionary pension paid to a surviving spouse or a retirement phase pension commenced with a death benefit paid to the surviving spouse will impact on their TBC amount.  This may create an excess problem because the deceased member’s TBC does not carry over to a surviving spouse.

Amounts over the TBC will be held in an accumulation account and have tax at 15% paid on assessable income.  Benefits paid out of the accumulation accounts will be tax free for persons over age 60 – this is different aspect to tax on investment earnings.  The future year exempt current pension income (ECPI) will be maximized by drawing amounts over the pension minimum from accumulation accounts.

There is special timing on death benefit transactions.  When a person automatically receives a reversionary pension, the TBA credit will not occurs until 12 months after the deceased’s death.  This provides a period of time for the surviving spouse to adjust their superannuation matters.  There is no 12-month period where a new or fresh pension is created with non-reversionary monies.  The credit occurs immediately when the new pension is started. 

The time span for reporting the TBA is determined by the total superannuation balances of an SMSF’s members.  If any member has a total superannuation balance of more than $1m, the event must be reported within 28 days after the end of the quarter in which the event occurs.  There are other rules for reporting commutation sooner or for some reporting with the date of lodging the SMSF annual return.  However, it is best to report early – basically straight away – as penalties could apply to late reporting.

From an ECPI point of view, the actuarial calculated percentage will be higher and less tax paid by getting the daily weighted average optimal.  It is not just commencing a pension from accumulation accounts soon, or utilizing the reversionary period of grace, but making pension payments late in the year.  Accumulation account payments can be taken early in the year.

The NetActuary special deal of $55 for tax exempt percentage actuarial certificates and $165 for legacy pension actuarial reports applies irrespective of how complex the case. This includes GST and applies until 30/06/2019. Please contact Brian on (03) 9028 5002 or email brian@netactuary.com.au if we can help.

Brian Bendzulla