8. Status of fund or trust

Type of fund or trust

Print X in the box that best describes the type of fund or trust at balance date. Mark only one box. Table 1 may help you determine the type of fund or trust at balance date.

Table 1: Fund or trust type

Label	Categories of funds or trusts
A	Small APRA fund: a regulated fund administered by APRA that has fewer than five members. This category includes employer-sponsored or corporate funds that have four or fewer members.
B	Retail fund: a regulated fund consisting of pooled superannuation sold commercially through intermediaries such as life companies, bank subsidiaries or financial planners. This category includes master trusts, personal superannuation products and public offer funds.
C	Industry fund: a regulated fund maintained to accept superannuation contributions from unrelated employers in a particular industry.
D	Corporate fund: a regulated fund sponsored by a single non-government employer or a group of related employers, excluding industry funds.
E	Eligible rollover fund: a regulated fund or approved deposit fund that is required to treat all members as protected members and every member’s benefits as minimum benefits.
F	Approved deposit fund (ADF): a regulated fund that can receive, hold and invest certain types of rollovers on certain conditions.
G	Pooled superannuation trust (PST): a unit trust in which only the assets of superannuation funds, ADFs and other PSTs can be invested.
H	Public sector fund: a regulated fund established by or under a law of the Commonwealth, a state or territory, a municipal corporation or another local governing body or public authority constituted by or under a law of the Commonwealth or a state or territory.
I	Non-regulated fund: a fund that does not satisfy the provisions of section 19 of the SISA.

J Australian superannuation fund

For the fund to be a complying superannuation fund it must be an ‘Australian superannuation fund’.

A superannuation fund is an Australian superannuation fund if it satisfies all three of the following tests:

• the fund was established in Australia, or at least one of the fund’s assets is located in Australia, and
• the of the fund is ordinarily in Australia, and
• either
  • the fund has no active members, or
  • it has active members who are Australian residents and who hold at least 50% of
  • the total market value of the fund’s assets attributable to super interests held by active members, or
  • the sum of the amounts that would be payable to or in respect of active members if they voluntarily ceased to be members.
   

Provided the fund satisfies these tests at the same time at any point in the income year then, for income tax purposes, it is an Australian superannuation fund for the entire income year. However, in order to be a 'complying superannuation fund' in an income year, these three tests must be met throughout the income year.

A member is considered to be an active member of a fund if:

• they are a contributor to the fund, or
• contributions were made to the fund on their behalf.

However, a member on whose behalf contributions were made to the fund is not an active member if:

• they are not a resident of Australia
• they have ceased to be a contributor, and
• the only contributions that were made on their behalf after they ceased to be an Australian resident were made in relation to the time they were an Australian resident.

The central management and control of a fund is ordinarily in Australia if the fund’s strategic and high level decisions are regularly made in Australia. These decisions are generally made by the trustees of the fund.

The fund will continue to meet the central management and control requirement in cases where the fund’s central management and control is temporarily outside Australia. However, if the central management and control of the fund is permanently outside Australia, it will not meet this requirement.

In general, provided all other aspects of the definition are satisfied, the fund continues to be an Australian superannuation fund where its central management and control is temporarily outside Australia for up to two years.

Print X in the No box at J if the fund does not meet the above definition of Australian superannuation fund at any time during the income year. If the fund does not meet the above definition of Australian superannuation fund throughout the income year, the fund will lose its complying superannuation fund status, and a tax rate of 45% will apply to the fund’s taxable income for the income year (including the market value of all fund assets at the start of that income year).

On the definition of an ‘Australian superannuation fund’, see TR 2008/9 Income tax: meaning of 'Australian superannuation fund' in subsection 295-95(2) of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997.

K Fund benefit structure

Print at K the appropriate code from table 2 that best describes the benefit structure of the fund.

Table 2: Fund benefit structure

Code	Definition of Fund benefit structure
A	A fund is an accumulation fund if the fund provides its members with a benefit which is the total of: specifically defined contributions to the fund plus earnings on those contributions minus any costs attributed to the member. This fund is considered an accumulation fund even if the fund or any of its accounts is supporting a superannuation income stream benefit.
D	A fund is a defined benefit fund if the fund provides its members with a benefit that is calculated from a formula based on a combination of factors, including the years of membership in the fund and average salary level over a specific time.
U	Unfunded defined benefit: similar to defined benefit, but the superannuation members’ benefits are unfunded. Only governments run unfunded defined benefit funds.
E	A fund is a hybrid fund if it has a combination of both accumulation and defined benefit members.

L Number of members

Print at L the total number of members or depositors (for ADFs) at the balance date.

Members for this item are persons:

• who are making contributions
• on whose behalf contributions are being made
• who are receiving pension entitlements, or
• who hold any deferred beneficiary accounts.

M Date of establishment

Print the date on which the fund was established.