Some changes to the asset classes of Maritime Super’s investment options

The Trustee Board has approved the consolidation for reporting and monitoring purposes of two similar asset classes in the investment strategies for Maritime Super’s investment options.

The Absolute Return Funds (ARFs) and Alternatives asset classes have merged and will use the existing Alternatives names. Growth ARFs are consolidated with Growth Alternatives and Defensive ARFs are consolidated with Defensive Alternatives within the investment strategies.

The consolidation reflects the industry standard approach of grouping all ‘alternative’ investments into one asset class. It will also allow a little more investment flexibility within the larger combined asset classes.

The change combines the asset class targets and ranges. However, the overall asset mix of Maritime Super’s investment options has not changed and there is no impact on members’ investment choices.

Changes are detailed in bold below.

Updated 07/06/2010

Death and TPD insurance for Stevedores has been outsourced to an external insurer

AIA Australia Limited (AIA Australia) has been engaged to provide Death and Total and Permanent (TPD) insurance to members of the Stevedores division of Maritime Super effective from 1 January 2010.

Prior to this appointment, Death and TPD insurance for Stevedores was self-insured by Maritime Super (and the formerly-known SERF).

Engaging an external insurer gives the Trustee access to professional underwriting and claims assessment services while securing benefits for our members and streamlining the claims process.

Stevedoring members were advised of this change in the insurance update sent to members along with the MaritimeFocus newsletter issued in March 2010. Read the Insurance update to learn more

Updated 07/06/2010

Allocation of Contribution

For the majority of receipts, investment earnings (positive or negative) are applied from the date received by the Fund. However if, for reasons beyond our control, we are unable to allocate contributions (or other deposits) to your account on the day received, we may hold the money in a trust account until we are able to allocate the amount or we return it to the contributor. No interest will be paid on amounts whilst retained in this account. This will only occur when we have insufficient information to identify the contribution and/or the account.

Updated 07/06/2010

30 day guarantee time period for benefit payments

At Maritime Super we always aim to provide excellent service, with the majority of our members’ benefit requests completed within 7 business days of receiving a fully completed request from a member using the relevant Maritime Super form.

However we will also guaranteed to process all benefit payment within 30 days of receiving a request in writing.

Updated 07/06/2010

IncomeProtect now available to Accumulation Standard members

We’ve got great news if you’re an Accumulation Standard member in the Stevedores division – income protection insurance is now available to you.

Income protection insurance, often known as salary continuance insurance, generally provides you with a regular income for usually up to two years in the event that you are unable to work in your usual job because of sickness or injury. By taking up this type of insurance, you can reduce the financial stress and worry if this unfortunate event happens to you.

For Accumulation Standard members, IncomeProtect is available where you are working and your Contributory Employer is making Superannuation Guarantee contributions to your account on your behalf. All you need to do is ‘opt-in’ for cover, which you can do by completing the Opt in to Maritime Super Income Protect form.

Because there is no minimum level of employer contributions for Accumulation Standard memberships, special rules apply to the provision of insurance. Read the IncomeProtect for Accumulation Standard Members information brochure for details.

We recommend that you consult a licensed financial planner if you are unsure of your personal insurance needs. Contact Member Services on 1800 757 607 and we can put you to touch with a qualified financial planner to discuss your insurance needs.

From 1 April 2010, Permanent (Defined benefit), Accumulation Plus and Accumulation Basic members who have their benefits transferred directly to the Accumulation Standard category following cessation of employment with a Full Participating or Participating Employer, will no longer have their IncomeProtect insurance cancelled on transfer. Instead, any IncomeProtect insurance they held with these membership categories will be transferred to Accumulation Standard along with their other benefits.

Updated 07/06/2010

Change to Insurer’s name

American International Assurance Company (Australia) Ltd, previously trading as AIG Life, has changed its name to AIA Australia Limited. AIA Australia Limited provides insurance cover for members of the Seafarers Division of Maritime Super.

Updated 07/06/2010

Even lower costs for Stevedores – from 1 October 2009

Maritime Super is pleased to announce that the premium rates for IncomeProtect insurance for members of the Stevedores division have been reduced, effective 1 October 2009.

Income Protect premiums are payable at the rates in the following table:

• For Accumulation Plus and Accumulation Basic members who have not opted out of cover, based on compulsory employer contributions; and
• For Permanent (Defined Benefit) members who have opted into cover, based on 9% of salary or wages (as advised by their employer).

IncomeProtect insurance is only available to members of the Permanent (Defined Benefits), Accumulation Plus and Accumulation Basic categories of membership.

If you’re not already covered and are a member of one of these categories, read up on the terms and conditions in your Member Guide and would like to apply, complete and return the Income Protect Opt In form

Updated 07/06/2010

Change to Cash asset investment range for MIC options

To enable the Trustee to effectively manage cash flow and implement its investment decisions for the Conservative, Balanced and Growth investment options, the range for Cash assets in these options has been introduced at 0 - 10% with effect from 27 August 2009. The investment target, however, remains at 0%.”

Updated 07/06/2010

Persons able to certify your identification documents has been extended

The persons who can certify your personal identification documentation has been extended following changes to Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing (AML/CTF) Legislation and now includes persons registered or licenced in certain professions in Australia.

Prior to accessing your benefit (including as a pension), AML/CTF legislation requires Maritime Super to be satisfied that you are who you claim to be and you must provide a certified copy of prescribed personal identification documents. While this may cause some inconvenience for you, it prevents fraudulent people from trying to access your hard-earned superannuation money.

To have your personal identification documents certified you will need to take both the original and a photocopy to a person with the qualifications (and registered or licenced in that profession in Australia (as applicable)) authorised under the AML/CTF Rules. That list of persons includes the following:

• Medical Practitioner
• Pharmacist
• Dentist
• Chiropractor
• Legal Practitioner
• Nurse
• Optometrist
• Vet
• Full-time teacher at a school or tertiary education institution
• Police Officer
• Justice of the Peace or Commissioner for Declarations
• Bailiff, Sheriff or Sheriff’s officer
• Magistrate, Court Clerk or Judge
• Marriage Celebrant or Minister of Religion
• Permanent employee of Australia Post with 2 or more years of service
• Registrar or Deputy Registrar of a Court
• A permanent employee of a Commonwealth, State or Local Government Authority with 2 or more years service
• An authorised representative of, or officer with, an Australian Financial Services Licensee with 2 or more years service
• A member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Australia, the Australian Society of Certified Practising Accountants or the National Institute of Accountants
• A bank, building society, credit union or finance company officer with 2 or more years of continuous service.

The person must certify each page of each document as true and correct, followed by their signature, printed name, their qualification (including period of service) and the date.

If you need to have a document(s) certified and you are not in Australia, you can email Maritime Super at info@maritimesuper.com.au for information on persons who can certify your document(s) overseas.

Please note, the persons able to certify copies of personal identification for roll-over purposes under superannuation law has not been extended. This means, if you are seeking to rollover benefits to Maritime Super, copies of your identification documentation must be certified by a person with the following qualifications, otherwise your other fund may not process your rollover request:

• an officer or an authorised representative of an organisation that holds an Australian Financial Services Licence (AFSL) – which includes most banks, building societies and credit unions – with 5 years of continuous service (with one or more licensees)
• a finance company officer with 5 years of continuous service
• a police officer
• a permanent employee of Australia Post with 5 or more years of continuous service
• An Australian legal practitioner
• A magistrate
• A judge
• A justice of the peace
• A notary public
• A CEO of a Commonwealth court
• An Australian consular officer or Australian diplomatic officer

Updated 07/06/2010

Pension drawdown relief extended to 30 June 2010

The Federal Government recently made changes to super legislation which will continue the pension drawdown relief originally provided to super account-based, allocated and market-linked pension members in March 2009 for the 2008/09 financial year through to 2009/10.

This will allow Maritime Super Allocated, Term Allocated and Working Income Support Pension (WISP) members to elect to take half of the normal minimum pension payments for 2009/10. To learn more click here.

Updated 07/06/2010

Changes to the interpretation of 'Ordinary Time Earnings' from 1 July 2009

Under the Superannuation Guarantee (SG) legislation, contributions of 9% of Ordinary Time Earnings (OTE) must be made by employers for eligible employees to superannuation. The Australian Taxation Office, issues guidance on the interpretation of OTE, and has advised that it will consider the following payments to be included in OTE from 1 July 2009:

• payments in lieu of notice on termination of employment
• some overtime payments including payments under arrangements and agreements where no ordinary hours of work are stipulated or where the distinction between ordinary and other hours of work has been removed; and
• casual employees shift loadings.

This may affect your Superannuation Guarantee contributions. Click here to view the ATO’s Superannuation Guarantee Ruling (SGR 2009/2) on OTE.

Updated 07/06/2010

Federal Budget Update 2009

The key superannuation changes announced by the Federal Government in its 2009 Budget on 12 May 2009 are:

Contributions cap

Concessional contributions cap reduced

The Government has announced the following changes to the concessional contributions cap (which applies to employer, salary sacrifice and personal deductible contributions):

• the cap will be halved from $50,000 to $25,000 (indexed) per annum with effect from the 2009/10 financial year; and
• the transitional concessional contributions cap (which applies until 30 June 2012) for members aged 50 and over will be halved from $100,000 to $50,000 per annum for the 2009/10, 2010/11 and 2011/12 financial years.

If you are a defined benefit member of Maritime Super^*, the notional funding of your defined benefit (known as your notional taxed contributions) will be deemed to fall within the concessional contributions cap. However, additional or voluntary employer and salary sacrifice contributions must fall within the remaining concessional contributions cap to avoid being subject to additional tax. If you are a defined benefit member of Maritime Super, contact Member Services on 1800 757 607 to find out your notional taxed contributions for a financial year.

The concessional contributions cap limits the amount of concessional contributions made in a financial year that will receive concessional tax treatment (i.e. only the 15% contribution tax applies if Maritime Super has your tax file number). Contributions above the cap will be taxed at 46.5% or more. Excess concessional contributions will also be counted towards the non-concessional contributions cap.

Plan of action:

• Consider making additional concessional contributions to Maritime Super prior to 1 July 2009 before the concessional contributions cap is halved on 1 July 2009.
• Members who currently have a salary sacrifice or transition to retirement strategy in place, or who are self employed and make personal deductible contributions, should consider speaking to a Maritime Super affiliated financial planner to discuss whether they need to review their arrangements.
• Consider making smaller contributions over a longer time frame to ensure your retirement goals can be met rather than making a series of larger concessional contributions closer to retirement.
• Members aged 50 or over should consider boosting their super by taking advantage of the transitional concessional contributions cap (which only applies until 30 June 2012).

Non-concessional contributions cap

The current non-concessional contributions cap of $150,000 will remain for 2009/10 and in the following financial years will be calculated as six times the concessional contributions cap.

Non-concessional contributions include your personal/member contributions (not claimed as a tax deduction), spouse contributions and contributions in excess of the concessional contributions cap.

Because the concessional and non-concessional caps apply across all superannuation funds, Maritime Super can't monitor them for you, so it is important that you review your contribution strategy to take into account the lower caps.

Government co-contribution temporarily reduced

The Government will temporarily reduce the matching rate and maximum Government co-contribution that is payable on a member's personal after-tax contributions (not claimed as a tax deduction) made for the next five years.

In effect, the Government will reduce its maximum matching of super contributions for each dollar contributed (to $1,000) from $1.50 to $1 for the next three years. This means individuals earning $30,342 or less (2008/09, indexed annually) who contribute $1,000 or more in personal after-tax contributions (not claimed as a tax deduction), will see their co-contribution reduced from a maximum of $1,500 this year to $1,000 for the next three years (i.e. 2009/10, 2010/11 and 2011/12). The maximum co-contribution will then increase to $1,250 for a further two years (2012/13 and 2013/14) before it returns to $1,500 from 2014/15.

To take advantage of the $1.50 co-contribution for each dollar you contribute to super, be sure to make your eligible contributions to Maritime Super before the end of the 2008/09 financial year.

Minimum pension reduction extended

The 50% reduction in the minimum pension payment for 2008/09 available to Maritime Super Allocated Pensioners, Working Income Support Pensioners (WISPs) and Term Allocated Pensioners will be extended to apply to the 2009/10 financial year. Contact Member Services if you would like to reduce your pension payments next financial year.

Age pension age

The age pension age will be progressively increased from 65 to 67 from 2023, affecting individuals born after 30 June 1952 (with the age pension age increasing by 6 month every 2 years from 1 July 2017 until it reaches 67).

Small lost and insoluble superannuation accounts will become unclaimed monies

From 1 July 2010, lost superannuation accounts of less than $200 and accounts which have been inactive for 5 years or more where the owner cannot be identified be will be payable to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) as unclaimed monies. The former holder of such an account will then be able to claim the amount back from the ATO at a later date.

Trans-Tasman retirement savings portability scheme

The Federal Government has announced an in-principle agreement with New Zealand to allow the transfer of superannuation between Australian superannuation funds and New Zealand KiwiSaver funds. Further details (including the start date) have not yet been released.

Other changes

The Federal Government has not as yet announced any increase to the superannuation preservation ages (currently 60 for people born after 30 June 1964).

The Federal Government announced other changes as part of the Budget, including changes to social security qualification and payments. You can read more about the Budget at www.budget.gov.au/2009-10/

Updated 07/06/2010

Important Update

Changes to legislation which will impact salary sacrifice and income testing from 1 July 2009

Salary sacrificing is an arrangement with your employer to make pre-tax contributions to the Fund instead of receiving the amount as salary or wages.

Under legislation set to take effect from 1 July 2009, salary sacrifice contributions to super will be assessed as 'income' for a range of government-assisted programs delivered through the tax system. This means that any salary sacrificing will be taken into account for government programs such as the spouse rebate, income support payment, family assistance, and the Medicare levy surcharge (to name a few).

It's important to know that the legislation does not affect your ability to continue your salary sacrifice arrangements. However, you should be aware that your gross salary will be taken into account by the ATO when assessing your eligibility for benefits such as the Government super co-contribution or (where your spouse is salary sacrificing to reduce taxable income) a spouse rebate. Now is the time to take advantage of current Government initiatives.

Co-contributions

Currently if you are under age 71 and your net taxable income is less than $30,342 (lower limit) and you make an after-tax personal contribution to super, the Government will match your contribution of $1.00 with a co-contribution of $1.50, to a maximum payment of $1,500. This payment reduces by 5 cents for every dollar you earn above the lower limit and phases out completely at the upper income limit of $60,342.

Spouse rebates

Additionally, a contribution to your spouse's account could also entitle you to a tax offset of up to $540.

The tax offset amount is calculated as 18% of the spouse contributions made, up to a maximum of $3,000. The $3,000 threshold is reduced by $1 for each dollar that the total of the spouse's assessable income and reportable fringe benefits in the year exceeds $10,800. The offset is phased out when the spouse's income reaches $13,800.

This tax offset applies to contributions made on behalf of non-working or low income-earning spouses, whether married or de facto.

Contributions caps

Remember that contributions caps (limits) apply to superannuation, so you need to ensure that your employer contributions (which include any salary sacrifice contributions) do not exceed the 'concessional' contribution cap and that your after-tax personal contribution do not exceed the 'non concessional' contribution cap.

It's always important to obtain professional advice regarding your superannuation - Maritime Super can arrange for a qualified financial planner to assist you.

Updated 07/06/2010