Trust Deed Amendments

Tasplan Ltd as Trustee of the Tasplan Superannuation Fund recently made some changes to the Fund’s Trust Deed to cater for recent changes to legislation and the move of the Fund to public offer status.

The Trust Deed is the legal document that governs Tasplan.

In accordance with sub-clause 29.6 of the Trust Deed, the Trustee is required to provide written notice of every amendment made.

A summary of the amendments are as follows:

• Removal or amendment of any unusual provisions in the Trust Deed, having regard to the actual operations of the Fund;
• Replacement of all provisions that merely restate the requirements of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1998 (“SIS”) with a broad based compliance provision (Rule 30);
• The introduction of binding death benefit nominations;
• Converting the Fund into a public offer fund, comprising a new allocated pension division and a personal superannuation division;
• The new superannuation simplification legislation;
• Contribution splitting and portability;
• The provision of income protection benefits by the Fund;
• The Family Law legislation affecting superannuation benefits.

Further detail on these changes is below.

Removal of unusual provisions

• A number of obsolete provisions and definitions have been deleted;
• The addition of an Allocated Pension and a Personal Superannuation division has been accommodated through the addition of new benefit schedules at the send of the Second Schedule.

Introduction of Binding Death Benefit nominations

• Rule 11.3 of the First Schedule has been amended to cater for the introduction of binding death benefit nominations and a reversion to the discretionary regime if a binding death benefit nomination is not completed or is invalid.
• Rule 11.4 allows the Trustee to determine circumstances when a binding nomination form is invalid.
• Former Rule 13.5 has been deleted which enabled the Trustee to pay death and disablement benefits into the Reserve Account if no dependant or legal personal representative could be located or neither a grant of Probate or Letters of Administration is produced. This is now covered by SIS Regulation 6.22, or alternatively will be paid as unclaimed money.
• In addition, the new allocated pension rules in Schedule B will also permit binding death benefit nominations in addition to paying reversionary pensioners.

Contribution Splitting and Portability

• To facilitate the administration of contribution splitting, amendments were made to allow the Trustee to make rules relating to the administration and processing of contribution splits as permitted by the legislation.
• A new Rule 9 has been added. The purpose of this is to:

1. Allow members to elect to split contributions (Rule 9.1);
2. Allow the Trustee to make rules pertaining to the administration and processing of contribution splits;
3. Provide that the Trustee may only approve an application for contribution splitting if the application meets the rules set by the Trustee and any additional requirements under the Applicable Requirements (Rule 9.3); and
4. Allow the Trustee to make adjustments to the accounts of a member who has requested the split in order to effect the split, including the recovery of any costs involved (Rule 9.4).

• Rule 20 has been amended to broaden the number of funds (including Retirement Savings Accounts and Deferred Annuities) to which benefits can be transferred and provided for the transfer of all or part of member’s Benefits, rather than restricting it to the concept of retirement credit.

Income Protection Benefits

• Both Schedules A and C were amended to cater for the provision of income protection benefits.
• The Trustee is making all the above amendments to the Tasplan Trust Deed sought legal advice and they are of the view that:

1. The amendments contained in the Deed of Amendment and Consolidation are consistent with:
   1. The amendment power contained in Rule 29 of the Trust Deed; and
   2. The Applicable SIS Provisions; and
2. On the information available to them, there is nothing to suggest that the amendments would not be in accordance with the Trustee’s fiduciary duties.

Should you wish to obtain a copy of the Trust Deed please call 1800 005 166. The Trustee reserves the right to charge a fee to cover photocopying and postage.