|
TasPension at a glance
Your TasPension is an attractive way of providing a reliable income from your hard-earned superannuation savings.
Your super fund is where you build up retirement savings, your TasPension changes those savings into an income to live on.
The TasPension is available as a standard pension, or if you don’t qualify to start a standard pension (because you are still working), you can apply for a Transition to Retirement Pension in a non-commutable form. A Tasplan Transition to Retirement Pension is an income stream for people over age 55 who haven’t yet retired but would like to access some of their preserved super. This is to give you the ability to reduce your working hours and to supplement your reduced income with income from your super savings.
Convenience and easy access
A TasPension is convenient. You get a consistent and periodic income, paid directly to your bank account, at a frequency you decide. With Tasplan, that can be half-monthly, monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or yearly.
Every year you can decide the level of income you want. There is a minimum payment set by the Government, based on your age and how much you have left in your account. There is no upper limit on the annual payment for the TasPension, so you can access as much of your money as you need, either as regular pension payments or as one or more lump sums. The minimum lump sum withdrawal is $2,000.
Your pension will continue to be paid while there is money remaining in your account. It is not guaranteed to last for any period. Unlike some pensions that continue to provide benefits as long as you are alive, this pension ceases when your account balance has reduced to zero. This could mean that your pension will continue to pay benefits after your death, but could also mean that it may run out if you live longer than expected. It also means your pension is dependent on investment earnings; the higher the rate of interest allocated to your account, the longer you will be able to receive pension payments.
Of course any lump sum withdrawal you make from your account will also affect your future pension payments and how long they last. In the event of your death, any balance in your pension account can be paid to your spouse, other dependants or your estate. All payments will be made in accordance with superannuation legislation.
Professional investment management
With a TasPension your money is professionally managed on your behalf. You don’t have to make day-to-day decisions on what to invest in, nor do you have to keep track of all the paperwork.
That’s not to say you don’t have control over how your money is invested. We provide you with 5 different Investment Options to choose from, each of them with a different risk/return profile.
Tax advantages
Pensions enjoy some major tax advantages compared with other types of investment income.
For a start, investing in a pension means you’re not ‘cashing out’ your super. So if you want to access your money before age 60 you won’t pay tax at that point in the way you would if you took it as a lump sum. That way, more of your money is invested and working for you.
Once you’ve set up your pension, the investment earnings credited to your accounts are tax-free as long as you’re drawing an income from the fund. You get the full benefit of the income and capital growth on the underlying investments, which helps to stretch your savings further.
Any benefits you receive after age 60, either as regular pension payments or lump sums, are completely free of tax. In fact, you don’t even need to include them in your tax return. Any amounts you receive before age 60 are taxed, but there are exemptions and offsets available that, depending on your circumstances, can reduce your tax bill substantially.
Security
As they’re part of the superannuation system, pensions are subject to strict Government regulations. While there are no guarantees about performance, repayment of capital or how long your capital will last, it’s a comfort to know that the fund has to abide by the rules, and that there’s a complaints procedure available if a problem does arise.
Why choose Tasplan?
You’ll find advantages with a TasPension that you won’t find with many other retail funds.
That’s because Tasplan returns all profits to its members. We’re not tied to any particular industry, or owned by any financial institution and do not pay commissions to financial planners or agents. We’re here simply to provide the best deal we can for our members – and that means advantages for you like low fees, good returns and more choice.
Here are just some of those advantages you enjoy with a TasPension.
-
Peace of mind that your savings are in safe hands
Tasplan is a big fund and it’s been operating for over 20 years. We now manage over $1 billion for more than 100,000 members.
-
Low fees
Tasplan provides excellent value. We run the fund for your benefit, not to provide profits for anyone else. No joining fees, no contribution charges and low management fees mean your savings can last longer than they would in some other funds.
-
Good returns
Tasplan members have enjoyed very competitive returns.
-
Plenty of choice
There are 5 different Investment Options you can choose from. So no matter what type of investor you are or what goals you’re hoping to achieve, you’ll find an option (or combination of options) to suit you.
-
As flexible as can be
No two people are the same, so we’ve made sure the TasPension is as flexible as possible. You can alter how much income you draw each year, subject to Government limits. You can decide the frequency of your income payments. You can choose how your money is invested, and which investment options your pension payments will be drawn from and you can choose what happens to any money left in your account if you die.
-
Help when you need it
You’ll find Tasplan is super friendly and easy to use. There’s always help available – when you join, or any time later when you may need it.
Tasplan engages the services of financial planners from Industry Fund Services Pty Ltd, ABN 54 007 016 195, AFSL 232514, trading as Industry Fund Financial Planning. These planners can help you to make the right decisions about your retirement. In line with our “no-commission” policy, our financial planners are salaried professionals who do not receive commissions for advice provided to members.
You can arrange for an appointment with our financial planners at any time by calling IFS on 1300 138 848. The first consultation is free and a fee will be negotiated for any advice and subsequent consultations. A fixed price quote will be provided and any fees are set by agreement between you and Industry Fund Services Pty Ltd.
Transition to Retirement Pension
A non-commutable version of the TasPension, called a Transition to Retirement Pension, is available to Tasplan members wanting to take advantage of the Government’s ‘transition to retirement’ initiatives.
If you have reached your preservation age (see the table below) but do not qualify to start a standard TasPension because you are still working1, you may be able to start a Transition to Retirement Pension.
A Transition to Retirement Pension has the same basic features as the standard TasPension except that your ability to make lump sum withdrawals is restricted. Also, the payment you receive in any financial year is limited to a maximum of 10% of your account balance at the start of that year, i.e. 1 July, and pro rata for any part year. If necessary, we may make adjustments to your pension payments to ensure that you comply with the prescribed minimum and maximum amounts.
Once you have satisfied a condition of release, your pension will be automatically converted to the standard TasPension.
| If you were born |
Your preservation age is
|
| Before 1 July 1960 |
55
|
| Between 1 July 1960 and 30 June 1961 |
56
|
| Between 1 July 1961 and 30 June 1962 |
57
|
| Between 1 July 1962 and 30 June 1963 |
58
|
| Between 1 July 1963 and 30 June 1964 |
59
|
| On 1 July 1964 or later |
60
|
Unlike the standard TasPension, a Transition to Retirement Pension cannot be converted to a lump sum and paid to you in cash unless:
- you are cashing an amount that is classified as ‘unrestricted non-preserved’; or
- the law allows you to receive a lump sum benefit, for example, you have retired or reached age 65.
The only other circumstance in which you may convert your Transition to Retirement Pension into a lump sum is if that lump sum is retained in a superannuation fund or used to start another non-commutable income stream.
1 The Government has not specified the minimum or maximum hours you must be working.
|
EXAMPLE 1
Peter is 57 and works 30 hours per week earning $50,000 per annum. He is thinking about retirement, however, he doesn't want to stop work completely.
He wants to reduce his hours to 15 a week, which means he will only earn $25,000 per annum.
Peter estimates that he and his wife need another $20,000 per annum to meet their lifestyle needs and decides to rollover $200,000 from his super fund to commence an allocated pension drawing the $20,000 per annum that they need.
Because the allocated pension income comes with a tax rebate of 15% of the income drawn, they are now paying about $3,000 less tax a year than if he received the income as salary.
That extra money could be used to contribute back to superannuation to save for the future – and to qualify for a government co-contribution.
Note: this example uses 2005/06 tax rates which may change in the future.
|
|
EXAMPLE 2
Sue is 58 and has been made redundant. She wants to work again and is looking for another job.
She plans to claim the Newstart allowance while she is looking for work, but it's not enough to fund her lifestyle.
Under the old rules she was unable to access her super because she was looking for work and therefore not retired.
Under the new rules however she could commence an allocated pension to supplement her Newstart Allowance.
When Sue gets a new job and no longer needs the additional income, she could roll the allocated pension back to superannuation until her subsequent retirement in the future.
|
How your TasPension works
To start your pension, you must first have access to money in a super fund
You start your TasPension by investing money you’ve already got in a super account, either with Tasplan or elsewhere (as long as you are eligible to join Tasplan).
That super account may be a personal account you’ve set up for yourself, or it may be an account to which your employer has been contributing on your behalf. It may be a long-standing account or one that you set up specially for the purposes of turning it into a pension with Tasplan.
Apart from existing super you can also, in certain circumstances, rollover an employment termination payment into your pension account. You can rollover amounts of any size, as long as your total investment in your TasPension is at least $20,000.
You don’t have to be retired
You don’t have to be retired to start your TasPension, but you do need to qualify for access to the money in your account.
Technically, the money has to be what’s called an ‘unrestricted, non-preserved benefit’. That means you can’t use money that has to be ‘preserved’ until some later date or money you can’t get access to because you haven’t fulfilled some other ‘condition of release’, such as retirement, permanent incapacity or financial hardship. If you don’t know whether a particular amount qualifies as an unrestricted non-preserved benefit, first check with the fund or with the employer making the payment. If you’re still not sure, please give a friendly Tasplan Customer Services Officer a call on 1800 005 166.
The original source of the money you use to purchase your pension can be one or more of the following:
- an existing super account with Tasplan;
- another super fund;
- another retirement income product from a different fund;
- a rollover fund (sometimes called an approved deposit fund);
- a retirement savings account;
- an employment termination payment such as a redundancy payment, ex-gratia termination payment or golden handshake provided such payment was part of an employment agreement in place prior to 10 May 2006 and the payment is made prior to 30 June 2012;
- a payment made as a result of you becoming totally and permanently disabled, if it qualifies as a lump sum payment.
If we receive any payments from an untaxed source, we will deduct tax from that payment at the rate of 15% and credit the balance to your account.
| 
