HOSTPLUS Member Guide

Most employees are eligible. Generally, employees aged between 18 and 70, who are paid $450 (before-tax) or more in a calendar month are covered by the SG legislation, whether they work full-time, part-time or on a casual basis.

Here are some of the employee categories excluded from SG contribution requirements:

• employees paid less than $450 in a calendar month
• employees under age 18 who work 30 hours or less a week
• employees aged 70 and over, and
• employees paid to do work of a domestic or private nature for less than 30 hours a week

Your HOSTPLUS super account is where your employer contributions and your personal contributions are made. Contributions and positive investment earnings are added to the balance. Fees, Government taxes, expenses and negative earnings are deducted from the balance.

Employers are required to make SG payments on behalf of temporary residents to their chosen super fund (if eligible for choice) or to the prescribed super fund in the same way as any other employee unless exempted by law from doing so.

While temporary residents remain in Australia their superannuation will remain in the fund until they become entitled to payment of a benefit. The superannuation benefits of temporary residents can only be withdrawn under the following conditions of release:

• after leaving Australia and their visas have ceased to have effect
• permanent incapacity
• terminal medical condition
• death.

If you're an eligible temporary resident (not an Australian or New Zealand citizen or permanent resident) and you depart Australia permanently, you can access your super benefits from the fund if six months has not passed since you departed Australia and your visa expired. Otherwise your account balance will be paid to the Australian Taxation Office www.ato.gov.au as unclaimed superannuation. Departed temporary residents will then have to claim back their superannuation from the Australian Taxation Office which may be done at any time.

HOSTPLUS relies on relief from ASIC under Class Order CO 09/437 and doesn't provide departed temporary resident members whose benefits are paid to the Australian Taxation Office www.ato.gov.au with notices or statements at the time of or after the benefits have been paid to the Australian Taxation Office. However if you have any queries, you can contact us and we'll provide relevant information about your benefit.

Temporary resident tax on benefits

Any super benefits paid out to eligible temporary residents may be subject to the Departing Australia Superannuation Payment (DASP) withholding tax – 35% for the taxed element of the taxable component and 45% for the untaxed element of the taxable component. Temporary residents are unable to access benefits at the same tax rate upon retirement or attaining age 60. They will continue to pay the applicable DASP withholding tax.

Super Choice gives eligible workers the ability to choose the fund into which their super contributions are paid. Choosing the right fund now can make a lifetime of difference. So it’s very important to know if you are eligible and what to do if you are.

For information on Super Choice, including eligibility, talk to your employer, or call 1300 HOSTPLUS (1300 467 875), 8am – 8pm, Melbourne time, Monday to Friday or go to hostplus.com.au

The Federal Government has placed restrictions on when you can access your super. Generally, your super benefits are preserved in a super or rollover fund until you retire from the workforce on/or after reaching your preservation age. Your preservation age will vary between 55 and 60 years of age, depending on your birth date. If you are born after June 1964 your preservation age will be 60.

All contributions made into super are preserved until you reach your preservation age. Any amounts that were non-preserved benefits as at 1 July 1999 will remain non-preserved and will not increase unless you transfer or roll over other non-preserved benefits into HOSTPLUS.

After reaching your preservation age you do not have to cash in your superannuation benefits if you don’t wish to. You can keep benefits in the fund until you die, at which point benefits will be paid to your dependants or legal personal representative.

Under certain circumstances, a HOSTPLUS member may have more than one membership account with the fund or have a membership in another division of HOSTPLUS. The fund will automatically merge any duplicate accounts or memberships you have in other divisions of HOSTPLUS.

When your accounts are merged, you will be notified of your membership number and the division of HOSTPLUS you are in. You will have 28 days to advise HOSTPLUS of your membership preference if you are not happy with the division you have been merged into. All duplicate and/or overlapping fees and charges will be reversed and refunded back to your account.

You are only eligible to retain insurance in one account. You will retain the highest level of insurance cover you hold and this will be transferred into your merged account unless you tell us otherwise. If you have been charged duplicate or overlapping insurance premiums, these will be refunded back to you.

Subject to the HOSTPLUS governing rules, preserved benefits can only be paid to you if you satisfy one of the following conditions of release:

• termination of employment after turning age 60 without necessarily retiring permanently
• in the event of your death
• permanent incapacity
• a terminal medical condition exists
• on the grounds of severe financial hardship subject to certain conditions and trustee approval
• on compassionate grounds as approved by the Department of Human Services (DHS)
• on termination of your employment with an employer sponsor where your preserved benefit is less than $200
• on your permanent departure from Australia if you are an eligible temporary resident, or
• on complying with any other condition of release specified under superannuation law.

How does HOSTPLUS determine to whom your death benefit is payable?

In the event of your death, the trustee may pay a benefit to your dependants or legal personal representative (the executor or administrator of your estate). A dependant for superannuation purposes (as opposed to tax purposes), includes a spouse (including de facto, same sex or a spouse from a relationship registered on the Register of Births and Marriages under State or Territory law), your children (including step, adopted, ex-nuptial or eligible children of same sex couples) and any other person who is wholly or partially financially dependent on you, or in an interdependent relationship with you at the time of your death.

You can nominate your dependants or legal personal representative as the persons or person to whom you’d like your super benefits to be paid in the event of your death by completing the Nominate your preferred beneficiaries section of the Membership application form available at www.hostplus.com.au/forms

Or for Personal Super Plan members, your Personal Super Plan membership application form available at www.hostplus.com.au/forms

You can also nominate your preferred beneficiaries when you make an online application to join.

In the event of your death, the recipient(s) of your death benefit will be determined according to whether you have nominated your beneficiaries as binding or non-binding.

Binding death benefit nominations

A binding death benefit nomination provides you with greater certainty about who will receive your benefit in the event of your death. In general, a binding nomination legally binds (instructs) the HOSTPLUS trustee to pay your death benefit to the person(s) nominated as your beneficiary(ies).

Binding death benefit beneficiary nominations can only apply to:

• your spouse (including de facto, same sex or a spouse from a relationship registered on the Register of Births and Marriages under State or Territory law);
• your children (including an adopted child, step child, ex-nuptial child or eligible child of same sex couples);
• your legal personal representative (the executor or the administrator of your estate);
• any person who is financially dependent on you; and
• any person with whom you have an interdependant relationship.*

A person must be a dependant on the date of your death to be considered a beneficiary.

You can nominate beneficiaries by completing the Binding death benefit nomination form available at www.hostplus.com.au/forms

Binding nominations expire every three years, however HOSTPLUS will contact you prior to their expiry so you can update/cancel or change your nomination(s). Your current beneficiaries will also be shown on your member half-yearly benefit statements.

We highly recommend you review your nomination(s) if your circumstances change, such as if you divorce, separate, re-marry, have children or experience the death of a beneficiary.

Non-binding death benefit nominations

If you elect to have non-binding nominations, the HOSTPLUS trustee will take into consideration your nomination but will not be bound to follow it.

You can nominate non-binding beneficiaries by completing the Nominate your preferred beneficiaries section in the Membership application form available at www.hostplus.com.au/forms or when you make an online application to join.

You may change your preferred beneficiaries at any time by completing a Change of member details form available at www.hostplus.com.au/forms or by notifying us in writing. You can also nominate or change your non-binding beneficiaries at any time through your SuperSite account at www.hostplus.com.au

The HOSTPLUS trustee is required to take reasonable steps to identify and pay the benefits to your potential beneficiaries, after taking relevant factors into account. These may include the nature of your relationship(s) with your beneficiary(ies) and their financial dependence, or otherwise, at the time of your death.

The HOSTPLUS trustee would normally pay the death benefit to:

• one or more of your dependants – spouse (including de facto, same sex or a spouse from a relationship registered on the Register of Births and Marriages under State or Territory law), children (adopted children, step-children, ex-nuptial children or eligible children of same sex couples), whether financially dependent or not, or any other person the HOSTPLUS trustee considers was wholly or partially financially dependent on you, at the time of your death; and/or
• any person with whom you have an interdependant relationship*; and/or
• your legal personal representative (the executor or administrator of your estate).

Before paying out a death benefit, the HOSTPLUS trustee will consider any beneficiaries you have nominated, the information provided by any dependants, your legal personal representative(s) and your will (if you have one).

Please note: A valid binding death benefit nomination overrides any preferred beneficiary nomination(s) you have made previously.

* Two people are in an interdependant relationship if:

• they have a close personal relationship;
• live together;
• one or each of them provides the other with financial support; and
• one or each of them provides the other with domestic support and personal care.

An interdependant relationship also exists if two people have a close personal relationship but the other requirements are not satisfied because of a physical, intellectual or psychiatric disability.

No nomination

If you do not make a nomination or make an invalid nomination, the trustee will pay the benefit to your dependants and/or legal personal representative at the time of your death.

If at any time your account balance is less than $1,000, HOSTPLUS member protection rules apply. If your account includes or has included Superannuation Guarantee or award contributions, the management costs deducted won’t exceed the net fund earning rate applied to your account for that year. During periods of poor investment returns, management costs are limited to any positive investment return plus up to $10 per protected account. Management costs don’t include insurance premiums and taxes, which will be deducted from your account as applicable.

The Australian Taxation Office www.ato.gov.au has established a lost member register, containing details of the superannuation accounts for members that funds cannot locate and certain members for whom contributions have ceased. All superannuation funds provide details of lost members to the Australian Taxation Office twice a year.

Generally, you are classified as lost if:

• you cannot be contacted (mail has been returned unclaimed)
• you joined the fund more than two years ago for the purpose of receiving employer contributions, and
• the fund has not received further contributions or rollovers.

If you think this is the case, you can check with the Australian Taxation Office www.ato.gov.au to see if you are registered as a lost member. If you have inactive accounts in any other fund or eligible rollover fund (ERF), you can consolidate them into your HOSTPLUS account.

You can make enquiries at the Australian Taxation Office www.ato.gov.au if you have lost contact with a fund and think you may be entitled to a benefit. Just call 13 10 20 or visit www.ato.gov.au/super and use SuperSeeker, the Australian Taxation Office's online tool to search for lost super.

In accordance with legislation and the fund's policy, if your account balance is less than $400 (subject to change) and we have not received contributions for you for more than 18 months, we may transfer your account balance to our ERF. Our nominated ERF is AUSfund.

However, if we have a current address we will write to you and give you the option to reactivate your account before transferring your HOSTPLUS account to AUSfund.

If your superannuation benefits are transferred to AUSfund, your personal information will be passed on to AUSfund so they can establish and manage your account, process your contributions, pay benefits, provide you with membership benefits and services, and correspond with you.

Being transferred to AUSfund may affect your benefits because of the following circumstances:

• You will cease to be a member of HOSTPLUS.
• Any insurance cover will cease.
• You will become a member of AUSfund and be subject to its governing rules. If HOSTPLUS can provide AUSfund with current contact details, AUSfund will send you their current Product Disclosure Statement (PDS). You can also ask them for a copy.
• Accounts of $50 or more attract a levy of $14 per year or part-year, while lower balances are not subject to the levy but do not receive net earnings. AUSfund protects all accounts from erosion due to the administration levy, so that the levy cannot exceed the net earnings allocated to each account.
• AUSfund has a different investment strategy from HOSTPLUS. For more details, see their PDS.
• AUSfund does not offer insured benefits in the event of death or disability.

AUSfund conducts cross-fund matching initiatives, where it uses your information to search for an active account in your name or another superannuation fund. If AUSfund finds an active super account in your name, it will transfer your AUSfund benefits to that fund. AUSfund also attempts to locate missing contributions paid to the Australian Taxation Office www.ato.gov.au on a member's behalf or superannuation benefits that may have been transferred to another ERF due to inactivity.

AUSfund engages specialist agents such as its administrator, Superpartners Pty Ltd (ABN 57 078 907 883), and Veda Advantage Solutions Group Pty Ltd (ABN 88 071 215 328) to provide services and other benefits to its members, under the strictest confidence. AUSfund will not use or disclose your information for any other purpose without your consent, except where required or authorised by law.

Should your benefits be transferred into AUSfund, you may request access to, or correction of, any personal information held by AUSfund by writing to AUSfund's Privacy Officer. AUSfund can be contacted at:

AUSfund Administration
PO Box 2468
Kent Town SA 5071
Phone: 1300 361 798
Fax: 1300 366 233
Email: admin@ausfund.net.au
Web: www.unclaimedsuper.com.au

For many people, SG contributions alone may not be enough to cover the cost of retirement. That’s why the Government encourages you to maximise your retirement savings by providing generous tax advantages for extra super contributions you make.

What’s more, if you organise your super early, adding just a little to your account could reap big rewards in the long term. In addition to your employer contributions you can add to your super in a variety of ways:

• personal contributions from your after-tax salary (known as non-concessional contributions). We will need your Tax File Number to accept personal contributions.
• contributions from your before-tax salary. These (concessional) contributions include salary sacrifice. Speak with your employer to check if you can make before-tax contributions as they will need to arrange this for you.
• government co-contributions, if you are eligible.
• your spouse could split their before-tax contributions with you.
• spouse contributions if you are a low income earner (see Spouse contributions).
• rolling over super from other accounts into HOSTPLUS.

You could also add to your spouse’s super by:

• making spouse contributions and receiving a Government rebate if your spouse is a low income earner.
• splitting up to 85% of your concessional contributions (including salary sacrifice) with your spouse.

If you have multiple super accounts, you’re probably paying multiple fees. By rolling all your accounts into HOSTPLUS, you’ll pay just one set of fees. It could save you thousands of dollars over the long term and mean more money for you at retirement.

HOSTPLUS doesn’t charge you to roll existing accounts into HOSTPLUS. But before you cancel existing arrangements with another fund, check to see if they charge any exit fees/penalties and whether the cancellation will affect any related insurance cover.

To rollover your other super accounts to HOSTPLUS complete the Request to transfer form available at www.hostplus.com.au/rollover

Most funds process rollover and transfer requests within 30 days of you providing all necessary information. We rely on receiving information from the fund you are exiting from to finalise your request. If we don’t receive the information we need from your existing fund within 30 days of receiving your request we will contact you to keep you informed.

You may transfer part of your account balance from HOSTPLUS to another complying super fund if:

• the amount you transfer does not reduce your HOSTPLUS account balance to less than $5,000, and
• you have not made a request to transfer funds in the last 12 months.

Transferring your benefit may have an impact on your insurance cover, as continuation is subject to maintaining sufficient funds to meet insurance premiums. If your cover lapses, you will need to reapply for insurance cover.

HOSTPLUS is a registered Qualified Registered Overseas Pension Scheme (QROPS) with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs Service and as such can accept transfers of funds from United Kingdom Pension Schemes.

If you have a UK Pension and have or are becoming an Australian Permanent Resident for taxation purposes and wish to transfer your UK Pension Scheme benefits to the HOSTPLUS Superannuation Fund, please discuss with your licensed financial adviser or call our contact centre on 1300 HOSTPLUS (1300 467 875) and ask for a UK transfer information pack. The QROPS Information guide is available at www.hostplus.com.au/forms 

Find out more about Industry Fund Financial Planning at www.hostplus.com.au/advice

If you’d like to add to your super, check to see if your employer can make additional contributions through salary sacrifice. If they do, your employer may make personal before-tax and after-tax contributions on your behalf directly to HOSTPLUS by payroll deduction.

We can accept personal contributions from you by cash, cheque or regular direct debit deductions, subject to you providing us with your TFN. 

Just complete the Direct Debit authority form available at www.hostplus.com.au/forms or you can make the contribution with BPAY^® via SuperSite at www.hostplus.com.au

According to Albert Einstein, ‘The most powerful force in the universe is compound interest.’ 

It’s where you reinvest the interest you earn into your investment, so you can then earn interest on both the original funds as well as past interest payments. 

For example, if you earn 10% p.a. on a $1,000 investment and reinvest that money, the next year you earn 10% on the original $1,000 plus the $100 you have reinvested. Over time, the rewards of compounding can be great.

The trick is to start early and enjoy the benefits of compound interest. Because a little now can mean a lot later. For example, Kate starts contributing an extra $25 a week at age 20 and may end up with an extra $212,658 when she retires at 65. Brendan starts contributing at age 40 and may only receive an extra $63,554 when he retires. 

The table below shows the difference you can make to your super benefit by starting early.

Source: JANA Investment Advisers Pty Ltd. The estimated benefit is expressed in today’s dollars and is calculated assuming a compound interest rate of 5% p.a. with amounts being fully invested until age 65. Please note that these assumptions are for illustrative purposes only and fees and taxes are not accounted for. The investment return is not guaranteed. It can be higher or lower than set out in this example. This is not a prediction or estimate of actual retirement savings.

If you earn less than $61,920 a year and you make voluntary contributions to your super from your after-tax pay, the Government will contribute up to $1,000 into your super account. This Government payment is called a co-contribution. Conditions apply. To ensure that HOSTPLUS is able to process your government co-contribution, your name, date of birth, address and TFN held with HOSTPLUS must match the records held with the Australian Taxation Office www.ato.gov.au If there are any inconsistencies HOSTPLUS will be unable to accept your co-contribution. Please ensure that your details are kept up to date. For further information, contact the Australian Taxation Office on 13 10 20 or call 1300 HOSTPLUS (1300 467 875).

Are you eligible?

To qualify for the full $1,000 you need to earn $31,920 or less and pay in $1,000 of your own money into your super, provided that 10% of more of your total income for the financial year is attributable to eligible employment. 

You can still get some money from the Government if you earn up to $61,920 or contribute less than $1,000 of your own money into your super. 

As your income goes up, the total that the Government will pay you falls, but the Government still pays up to $1, for every $1 you put in. 

For example, if you earn $45,920 you only need to put in $500 to get a co-contribution of $500.

At the end of the financial year in which you have made after-tax contributions, all you need to do is submit your usual income tax return. The Australian Taxation Office www.ato.gov.au will work out any co-contribution amount you would receive and forward it to your HOSTPLUS account.

If you have more than one superannuation account

To ensure your Government co-contribution is invested in your HOSTPLUS account, you must complete a Superannuation fund nomination form and return it to the Australian Taxation Office www.ato.gov.au 

Nomination forms are available from the Australian Taxation Office by calling 13 10 20 or at www.hostplus.com.au/forms

Some employers allow you to make contributions to super from your before-tax salary. These contributions are known as salary sacrifice. Making extra super contributions by salary sacrificing can reward you with tax benefits – 15% tax is deducted from your super money, which is lower than most people’s personal tax rate which can be as high as 46.5% (including Medicare levy). Contribution caps apply.

It is important to note that some employers may:

• base their SG contributions on the reduced salary
• not offer salary sacrifice.

Before entering into a salary sacrifice arrangement you should seek professional advice and obtain a copy of our Salary sacrifice guide available at www.hostplus.com.au. Generally, if the average tax rate payable on your income is greater than 15%, you will benefit from salary sacrificing in that, the amounts that you sacrifice will be taxed at 15%. But you may not benefit if you exceed the contribution caps.

If you're a low income earner or you don't work for a period of time, you can keep building a bigger nest egg with your spouse, as well as potentially receive a tax rebate.

The maximum rebate available to the person who makes a spouse contribution is 18% of $3,000 worth of spouse contributions – a handy $540. The full rebate is available if a spouse's assessable income is $10,800 per year or less. This rebate reduces by $1 for every assessable dollar over $10,800 and stops when the spouse's income reaches $13,800.

The contributing spouse is eligible to receive the tax rebate based on spouse contributions if:

• The contributing spouse and the receiving spouse are husband and wife, including same-sex couples (legal or de facto), permanently living together on a genuine domestic basis or if they have a relationship registered on the Register of Births and Marriages under State or Territory law
• Both you and your spouse are Australian residents
• Your spouse/partner is under 70 years of age
• Your spouse/partner is between 65 and 70 years of age and is gainfully employed for at least 40 hours in 30 consecutive days during the financial year the contribution is made (if under 65 they do not need to work)
• Your spouse's/partner's assessable income, reportable fringe benefits and reportable employer contributions are under $13,800 p.a
• You make a non-deductible contribution on behalf of your spouse
• Your spouse/partner is a member of a complying super fund

Our Spouse Contributions Brochure is available at www.hostplus.com.au/forms

* In order to make spouse contributions, the person contributing and the person receiving the contribution must satisfy the definition of a spouse. A spouse includes: a person (whether of same or opposite sex) with whom the person is in a relationship that is registered under the Register of Births and marriages under State or Territory law, or a person, who although not legally married to the person, lives with the other person on a genuine domestic basis in a relationship as a couple.

** Over 70 but less than 28 days after the month in which members turn 75.

† Once you turn age 65, we’ll write to you each year to confirm your continuing eligibility to make contributions to super.

While super funds aren’t required to offer super splitting, HOSTPLUS offers the benefits of super splitting to members.

Under HOSTPLUS super splitting rules, eligible funds can be split between spouses and de facto couples after the end of each financial year.

Only concessional contributions (employer SG, salary sacrifice, additional employer contributions and deductible contributions made by the self-employed) are eligible for super splitting with a spouse. You can split up to 85% of these concessional contributions.

You cannot split:

• personal after-tax contributions
• amounts rolled over or transferred from another fund, and
• amounts subject to a family law payment split.

A $60 administration fee will be payable by the splitting member for each transaction which will be deducted from the member’s account. The fund needs to receive contribution splitting advices by 31 May of the current year for the previous financial year’s contributions.

Split funds will be allocated in arrears once a year. Split contributions will be transferred from the member’s account to their spouse’s HOSTPLUS account where they will be fully preserved. To find out more about super splitting, call 1300 HOSTPLUS (1300 467 875). The split amount must be more than $1,000. A member’s account balance cannot be less than $1,000 after the split. You may also consider seeking advice from a licensed financial adviser. 

Find out more about Industry Fund Financial Planning at www.hostplus.com.au/advice

Non-concessional contributions are generally contributions made by or for a member that are not taxed in the fund. For example, they are made from an individual’s after-tax income.

Non-concessional contributions include:

• personal contributions for which you do not claim an income tax deduction
• contributions your spouse makes to your super fund account
• contributions in excess of your capital gains tax (CGT) cap amount
• amounts transferred from foreign super funds (except for amounts included in the fund’s assessable income), and
• the part of your employer’s contribution that exceeds your concessional contributions cap

Non-concessional contributions exclude:

• The super co-contribution.
• Certain contributions arising from structured settlements or orders for personal injuries. (Generally you must pay the amount within 90 days – for specific time limits contact HOSTPLUS).
• Certain contributions relating to some CGT small business concessions within your CGT cap amount – small business sale proceeds up to a lifetime limit ($1.205 million for 2011 – 12). For contributions to be counted towards the CGT cap, you must notify HOSTPLUS using the approved form provided by the Australian Taxation Office www.ato.gov.au either before or when you make the contribution. If you submit the form to HOSTPLUS after you have made your contribution, the exclusion will not apply.
• Contributions made to a constitutionally protected fund that are not included in the contributions segment of your super interest in the fund.
• Rollovers or transfers between complying super funds (not including amounts transferred from foreign super funds).
• Contributions made before 10 May 2006.

HOSTPLUS is unable to accept contributions exceeding the non-concessional contributions cap. If your contributions exceed the cap and HOSTPLUS is aware you have exceeded the cap, HOSTPLUS will refund the excess portion of the contribution within 30 days. If HOSTPLUS is unaware you have exceeded the cap because you contribute to more than one fund, excess contributions will be taxed at the top marginal tax rate, which is currently 46.5% (including Medicare levy).

The Australian Taxation Office www.ato.gov.au will send you:

• an excess non-concessional contributions tax assessment based on the information provided to the Australian Taxation Office by HOSTPLUS, and
• a compulsory release authority that you may give HOSTPLUS within 21 days after the date on the release to release an amount equal to the excess contributions tax liability. However you don’t have to pay the tax using a release authority, you can pay your excess non-concessional contributions tax in a number of ways. You can:
  • pay the tax yourself and use the compulsory release authority to ask HOSTPLUS to release the money to you
  • use the compulsory release authority to instruct HOSTPLUS to pay the money to the Australian Taxation Office on your behalf

  • pay using a combination of these options

The excess non-concessional contributions tax is due and payable 21 days after the notice of assessment has been given to you. General interest charge applies if the amount remains unpaid after the due date.

The Australian Taxation Office www.ato.gov.au will have limited discretion to reduce the tax payable, in regard to an inadvertent breach of the cap.

Concessional contributions are pre-tax contributions paid by employers and eligible persons (including SG, salary sacrifice contributions and contributions made by the self-employed).

Contributions over the caps will be taxed at 31.5% (including Medicare levy), in addition to the 15% tax when contributions are made to the fund. You can authorise HOSTPLUS to pay the excess contributions tax on your behalf, from your HOSTPLUS account, or you can pay it directly.

Refund of excess concessional contributions

Members who breach their concessional cap in any year after 1 July 2011 should contact the Australian Taxation Office www.ato.gov.au to determine if they are allowed to seek a refund of up to $10,000 to prevent them receiving an excess contribution tax assessment. It is only available for their first breach. Subsequent breaches will incur the excess contributions tax in full.

1. This amount is indexed to Average Weekly Ordinary Time Earnings, but only increases in increments of $5,000 or more.

2. The non-concessional cap will only increase when the $25,000 concessional cap increases by indexation. It will then be calculated at six times the new concessional cap amount.

3. If you are 63 or 64 you can bring forward two years of non-concessional contributions without satisfying the ‘at work test’ in the following two years (see the definition of ‘at work’ below).

4. The contribution can only be accepted if made within 28 days after the month in which the member turns 75 and the ‘at work test’ is passed.

5. The ‘at work test’ means you must be in gainful employment for at least 40 hours within a 30 consecutive day period in the financial year in which you contribute.

Contributions made by the self-employed (who have no more than 10% of their assessable income from wages or salary) can be treated in exactly the same way as contributions made by employers for the benefit of employees. This means an eligible person will be able to claim a full deduction for concessional contributions.

Excess concessional contributions over the cap will be counted towards your non-concessional cap.

The Government co-contribution scheme is also available to the self employed if they make after-tax contributions, and meet the other eligibility criteria.

This is the maximum limit used to calculate the SG contributions on any employee’s earnings base for each quarter of the financial year. Generally, employers do not have to pay SG contributions for any earnings above this limit unless the terms of your employment provide otherwise (for example, under your contract of employment, any applicable award or other industrial agreement). For the 2011 – 12 income year the maximum contribution base per quarter is $43,820. Visit the Australian Taxation Office www.ato.gov.au for the latest maximum contribution base amount.

You are unable to roll over any Employment Termination Payments (ETPs) into your super fund except under the transitional arrangements.

Transitional arrangements will apply to ETPs received between 1 July 2007 and 30 June 2012. You will still be able to roll over this payment to a super fund if the ETP is specified (namely the amount of the ETP or a method for calculating it is specified) in your employment contract on or before 10 May 2006.

The rollover of ETPs to superannuation funds under $1 million do not count towards any of the contribution caps. Amounts comprising the taxable component of an ETP rolled over in excess of $1 million are counted towards the concessional contribution cap and may be taxed at 46.5% to the extent that they result in the cap being exceeded.

Please note that the taxable component of any ETPs covered by the transitional arrangements that are rolled into super (i.e. amounts up to the $1 million cap) will be taxed at 15% upon it being received into the fund. Of course these transitional employment termination payments can be received directly by you in cash as well. If you’re not eligible for the transitional rules, you will only be able to receive an ETP as cash.

HOSTPLUS offers the following payment methods:

® Registered to BPAY Pty Ltd ABN 69 079 137 518.

There are a number of benefits you may receive, subject to meeting the applicable criteria, including:

Retirement benefit

Your super balance may be payable to you when you retire permanently from the workforce, having reached your preservation age. Your balance may also be paid to you if you leave your employer after age 60 irrespective of whether you are retiring permanently from the workforce.

Once you attain age 65 you can access your super funds even if you have not yet retired from the workforce. Retirement benefits are paid as a lump sum. Under current law, you may retain your benefits in HOSTPLUS until your death at which point benefits will be paid (as a lump sum) to your dependants or legal personal representative.

Resignation benefit

If you resign from an employer you may be eligible for a cash benefit from your superannuation fund. You may only be eligible to receive this benefit if you have non-preserved funds in your superannuation account. You are not obliged to take this benefit as there may be tax implications. You can simply retain your benefit in the fund. Resignation benefits are paid out as a lump sum.

Death, Total & Permanent Disability and Terminal Illness benefit

In the event of your death, your account balance and any insured benefit (if applicable) will be paid to your dependants or legal personal representative. If you become totally and permanently disabled or a terminal illness exists (and you provide the trustee with approved documents) you may be eligible to receive your account balance and any insured benefit (if applicable). Death, TPD and Terminal Illness benefits are paid out as a lump sum. 

To find out more about insurance cover, go to the online Member Guide information - Section 8: Insurance in your super (www.hostplus.com.au/memberguide/insurance)

Income protection benefit

If you have income protection and are temporarily totally disabled or partially disabled, you may be eligible to receive income protection benefits. Income protection benefits are generally paid on a monthly basis. 

To find out more about insurance cover, go to the online Member Guide information - Section 8: Insurance in your super (www.hostplus.com.au/memberguide/insurance)

Under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Terrorism Financing Act 2006 superannuation funds are required to identify, monitor and mitigate the risk that the fund may be used for the laundering of money or the financing of terrorism. Because of this you may be required to provide certified proof of identity before you withdraw or rollover your benefit from the fund or commence an income stream. At a minimum, you may be required to provide the fund with evidence that verifies your full name, your date of birth, and your residential address.

In the event of a death claim, we would also require documentation to verify dependants and/or legal personal representatives’ identities. These may include, but are not limited to, certified copies of marriage certificates, wills, birth certificates and letters of administration.

The trustee also reserves the right to request additional information. If you do not provide this information your payment may be delayed or refused.

How long will it take?

Generally funds process rollover and transfer requests within 30 days of you providing all necessary information. We are reliant on receiving information from the fund you are exiting from to finalise your request within the time limit. If the required information is not received within 30 days from your exiting fund, we will notify you.

You can provide proof of identity in one of the following ways:

1. By providing one of the following documents only: 

• driver's licence issued under State or Territory law
• passport

OR

2. By providing one document from both Group A and Group B

Group A

Birth certificate or birth extract

Citizenship certificate issued by the Commonwealth

Pension card issued by Centrelink that entitles you to financial benefits

Group B

Letter from Centrelink regarding a Government assistance payment

Notice issued by Commonwealth, State or Territory Government or local council within the past 12 months that contains your name and residential address.

For example:

– Tax Office Notice of Assessment

– rates notice from local council.

Have you changed your name or are you signing on behalf of another person?

If you have changed your name or are signing on behalf of the applicant, you will need to provide a certified linking document. A linking document is a document that proves a relationship exists between two (or more) names.

The following table contains information about suitable linking documents.

Verifying your identity

Under the anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing laws, you’re required to provide evidence that verifies your full name, date of birth and residential address before you can withdraw your benefit.

Please ensure the person certifying your proof of identity has no connection to any organisation you are using to assist you in obtaining access to your super, is someone other than yourself and is not anyone who will benefit from your application for withdrawal of your benefit.

How to certify documents

Step 1

Make a copy of the original document/s. All copies must be clear and legible before certifying.

Step 2

Take the original identification document and a photocopy of both sides of the original document to an authorised person.

We are unable to accept certification on the reverse side of the photocopied document.

The authorised person needs to:

• Write or stamp in English on the photocopies: This is a true and correct copy of the original.
• Write or stamp their name, address, occupation, business hours telephone number and registration number (if applicable) and sign each photocopy.

The following persons can certify your proof of identity documentation:

• chiropractor
• dentist
• nurse
• registered medical practitioner
• pharmacist
• psychologist
• veterinary surgeon
• legal practitioner, who is enrolled on the roll of the Supreme Court of a State or Territory, or the High Court of Australia
• Australian Consular Officer or Australian Diplomatic Officer (within the meaning of the Consular Fees Act 1955)
• bank officer with 2 or more continuous years of service
• chief executive officer of a Commonwealth court
• finance company officer with 2 or more years of continuous service
• judge of a court
• Justice of the Peace
• magistrate
• member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia, the Australian Society of Certified Practising Accountants or the National Institute of Accountants
• minister of religion
• notary public
• officer with, or authorised representative of, a holder of an Australian financial services licence, having 2 or more years of continuous service with one or more licensees
• permanent employee of the Australian Postal Corporation with 2 or more years of continuous service who is employed in an office supplying postal services to the public
• police officer
• Registrar, or Deputy Registrar, of a court
• teacher employed on a full-time basis at a school or tertiary education institution.