With the new SuperStream V.3 soon to be implemented, SuperConcepts senior technical specialist Anthony Cullen said payments of any money via SuperStream must occur via electronic transfer and, as such, trustees will no longer be able to arrange a cheque to be sent to the receiving fund or the Australian Taxation Office. The payment itself does not form part of the SuperStream message/data that is sent between funds and/or the ATO.
However, before a trustee can arrange the transfer, they will need to obtain a payment reference number that will be generated by the SuperStream-enabled software. This payment reference number will need to be included in the details of the transfer and will then be matched to the data transfer that occurs via SuperStream.
“This will require greater coordination and collaboration between trustees/advisers and accountants/administrators as the former will generally tend to the actual payment, but it will often be the latter that has access to the software to generate the reference number and to transfer the necessary data,” Mr Cullen said.
“In addition, the payment and the data should be provided to the receiving fund on the same day.
“To put this into some perspective, consider what may be involved in winding up a fund in late June and the need to get the benefits rolled over to the receiving fund prior to the end of the financial year.”
Previously, it wasn’t uncommon for the trustee/adviser to arrange the sell-down of the assets and the transfer of the cash, potentially leaving a small balance to cover any outstanding fees and taxes, according to Mr Cullen.
The accountant/administrator would then supply the rollover benefit statement sometime after once the accounts were up to date.
“These previous practices will not be able to occur under the new requirements of SuperStream. Firstly, as the transfer is likely to be a partial rollover, the standard process form cannot be used,” he explained.
“The payment and data then need to be coordinated so that they occur at the same time. While the industry gets used to the new norm, it may be prudent to factor in a greater amount of time for the process to play out.
“One benefit that does come from this process is that the receiving fund must respond and confirm the receipt of the payment and data.
“This will assist with providing evidence that the transfer occurred and that the money has not left the superannuation system (where it was still preserved) for audit purposes.”
