Retirement Savings Accounts Amendment Regulations 2007 (No. 1) (104 of 2007)

Schedule 3   Amendments commencing on 1 July 2007

[12]   After regulation 1.08

insert

1.08A Commutation of an account-based pension

(1) For paragraph 1.07 (1) (c), a benefit meets the standards of this regulation if, under the applicable terms or conditions of the RSA, the pension cannot be commuted, in whole or in part, except in the following circumstances:

(a) the commutation results from the death of the pensioner or a reversionary pensioner;

(b) the sole purpose of the commutation is:

(i) to pay a superannuation contributions surcharge; or

(ii) to give effect to an entitlement of a non-member spouse under a payment split; or

(iii) to meet the rights of a client to return a financial product under Division 5 of Part 7.9 of the Corporations Act 2001;

(c) for a commutation in part - the account balance of the pension, immediately after the commutation, is equal to or greater than the minimum payment amount calculated in accordance with Schedule 5, as reduced by the amount of payments to the pensioner already made in the financial year in which the commutation occurs;

(d) the pension has paid, in the financial year in which the commutation takes place, at least the minimum amount prescribed by subregulation (2).

(2) For paragraph (1) (d), the minimum amount is the amount calculated using the formula:

Minimum annual amount x (Days in payment period / Days in financial year)

where:

minimum annual amount means the minimum amount payable under the pension, in the financial year, calculated in accordance with Schedule 5.

days in payment period means the number of days in the period that:

(a) begins on:

(i) if the pension commenced in the financial year in which the commutation is to take place - the commencement day; or

(ii) otherwise - 1 July in that financial year; and

(b) ends on the day on which the commutation is to take place.

days in financial year means the number of days in the financial year (365 or 366) in which the commutation takes place.