CRT Alert 079/2018
15 October 2018
How to meet your lost member reporting obligations
The following guidance is provided to assist you to understand how you can meet your lost member reporting obligations during the transition to event based reporting.
Currently you are required to report information about your lost members to us on or before 31 October (for the period 1 January to 30 June) and 30 April (for the period 1 July to 31 December).
Legislation is currently before Parliament which will remove the requirement for you to report the information via the lost member statement (LMS). It will also remove these biannual reporting dates.
Meeting your lost member reporting obligations by 31 October 2018
If the draft legislation is passed it will apply to lost member information you are required to report for the period 1 January 2018 to 30 June 2018 by 31 October 2018. However, to provide certainty the ATO has aligned approved form requirements to mitigate any uncertainty surrounding the passage of the legislation.
Therefore whether or not the draft law passes, you will meet your lost member reporting obligations as follows:
¦Where you have already on-boarded to the Member Account Attribute Service (MAAS), you will meet your lost member reporting obligations if you have correctly reported and/or updated, the ‘lost status’ account attribute for each member’s account via the MAAS by 31 October 2018. If you have correctly reported your member’s lost status when on-boarding to MAAS, you are not required to take any further action for the 31 October 2018 due date.
¦Where you have not on-boarded to the MAAS by 31 October 2018, you will need to meet your lost member reporting obligations by lodging a LMS. You can lodge your LMS electronically through our electronic commerce interface. This must be done by 31 October 2018.
Timing of future lost member reporting obligations under MAAS reporting
If the draft legislation is passed the Commissioner can determine the frequency of your lost member reporting obligation by legislative instrument. You will have the option of reporting your members’ lost status more frequently if you wish.
However, we will require you to continue to assess the lost status of your members at a minimum biannually and provide information to the Commissioner via the MAAS as follows:
¦Assess the lost status of your members on or after 30 June but before 31 October and if there has been a change in the member’s ‘lost status’ account attribute, report that information on or before 31 October.
¦Assess the lost status of your members on or after 31 December but before 30 April and if there has been a change in the member’s ‘lost status’ account attribute, report that information on or before 30 April.
Unable to meet your lost reporting obligations
If you are unable to meet your lost member reporting obligations (via MAAS or LMS) by 31 October 2018, please contact SuperCRT@ato.gov.au, if you have not already advised us.
If you have not on-boarded to MAAS and you wish to discuss your options, please email the SuperStream On-boarding team on SuperStreamStandards@ato.gov.au.