Leigh Mansell, director SMSF technical and education services for Heffron, said in a recent webinar that the computation amounts for transfer balance cap purposes have remained, and there could be some issues with market-linked pensions with special value formula amounts that need to be worked out for some clients.
“What else hasn’t changed is in relation to the maximum commutation amount, particularly when we’re looking at life expectancy pensions or flexi pensions,” she said.
“It’s important to remember that flexi pensions aren’t part of the amnesty – they’re not covered under the amnesty – and the reason why they are not is because you’ve always been able to commute them and turn them into an account-based pension subject to the member’s transfer balance cap.
“Alternatively, you can take the commutation amount out as a lump sum payment, so they’re left out of the legacy pension scenario. However, in terms of the maximum commutation amount, that hasn’t changed, as it’s driven by the SIS regulations.”
The other thing that has not changed is the requirement that the commutation has to be a full commutation, Mansell said.
“The requirements under SIS in relation to full commutations are exactly the same as normal. You need to take a prorated minimum pension payment first before the commutation, so there’s no difference under the legacy.”
There is a misconception that with the amnesty now in place, members can stop their market-linked pension and swap it for an account-based pension.
“But it doesn’t work like that, so we need to take that off the table and have a look at how much cap space we’ve got,” Mansell said.
“The amnesty goes for five years and [it’s unsure] of what is going to happen at the end of the five-year period – whether we will go back to the old pre-December 2024 rules, which is people can still commute these pensions, but the commutation amount has to go back into another legacy pension.”
Although there is bipartisan support for the amnesty, there is still a low risk that the legislation could be repealed prospectively, Mansell added.
“We also understand the ATO is working on guidance right now. We haven’t got a feel for when it’s going to come out.”
“We aren’t expecting a full-blown tax ruling or LCR, but it may be a little bit more informal, such as web advice from the ATO because it needs to be done quickly.”
