A Member’s Account in the Asteron Superplan (WITHDRAWN)

Reference

This determination is made under section 91AAW of the Tax Administration Act 1994.

Interpretation

In this determination, unless the context otherwise requires:

“AML regulation” means anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism regulation under the AML/CFT Act 2009.

AML/CFT Act 2009” means the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act 2009.

“CRS applied standard” means the CRS standard as modified by section 185O for the determination of requirements under the Tax Administration Act 1994.

“CRS publication” means the Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters, published by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

“CRS reporting period” means the period from 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019 and any subsequent 12-month period from 1 April to the following 31 March.

“CRS standard” means the Common Standard on Reporting and Due Diligence for Financial Account Information, as amended from time to time, which is a standard—

1. developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the Group of Twenty countries; and
2. agreed by the Council for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development on 15 July 2014; and
3. contained in Part IIB of the CRS publication.

“Financial Account” has the same meaning as in Section VIII(C)(1) of the CRS standard.

“FMC Act 2013” means the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013.

“Member” means a person who holds an account in the Scheme.

“Member’s Account” means an account held by a Member in the Scheme.

“Retirement or pension account” means an excluded account that fully satisfies the requirements of subparagraph C(17)(a) of Section VIII of the CRS standard.

“Scheme” means the Asteron Superplan.

“Trust Deed” means the Trust Deed relating to the Asteron Superplan dated 25 November 2016 as amended from time to time.

“Trustee” means the trustee of the Asteron Superplan.

Discussion (which does not form part of the determination)

The trustees of the Scheme (in that capacity) primarily conduct a business of investing, administering, or managing financial assets or money on behalf of the Scheme and its Members. Therefore, in terms of the CRS standard, the Scheme is an investment entity and a reporting New Zealand financial institution.

The Scheme is a restricted legacy superannuation scheme under the FMC Act 2013 and has been closed to new members since 2009.

Scope of determination

A Member’s Account does not fully satisfy the requirements for, but has substantially similar characteristics to, a retirement or pension account in subparagraph C(17)(a) of Section VIII of the CRS standard, and has other substituting characteristics which provide an equivalent level of assurance that such an account presents a low risk of being used to evade tax.

This determination is issued by the Commissioner of Inland Revenue and applies to a Member’s Account in the Scheme where all of the following conditions are satisfied (for the Scheme and Member’s Account):

• The Scheme continues to maintain the Member’s Account as part of a restricted legacy superannuation scheme registered under the FMC Act 2013;
• The Scheme is subject to AML regulation;
• The member is a natural person;
• Annual contributions to the Member’s Account continue to be equal to or less than USD 50,000 per annum (including any applicable aggregation rules set out in the CRS) or there is a maximum lifetime contribution limit to the account of USD 1,000,000. [A Member’s Account that otherwise would satisfy this requirement will not fail to satisfy this requirement solely because such Account may receive assets or funds transferred from one or more Financial Accounts that meet the requirements of subparagraph (C)(17)(a) or (b) of Section VIII of the CRS or from one or more retirement or pension funds that meet the requirements of any of subparagraphs B(5) through (7) of Section VIII of the CRS];
• The Scheme is a Portfolio Investment Entity for tax purposes;
• Investment income from the account is subject to income tax at the Scheme level and occurs at source (i.e. not subject to the Member filing a tax return);
• All such taxation is reported to Inland Revenue.
• Withdrawals from the Account are not permitted unless:
  • the Member has reached the retirement age (which has a default age of 55 years, and will not be less than 50 years of age);
  • in accordance with the Trust Deed, the Member dies, the Member becomes permanently disabled, the Member is suffering severe financial hardship, the Member is diagnosed as having a major health problem, the Member is permanently emigrating from New Zealand, the Member is diagnosed as having a terminal illness which in the opinion of a medical practitioner approved by the Trustee is likely to result in death within 12 months; or
  • it relates to a transfer to a retirement fund described in subparagraphs B(5) through (7) of Section VIII of the CRS or account described in subparagraph C(17)(a) of the CRS.

Determining that a Member’s Account in the Scheme is an excluded account, and specifying this under New Zealand law, does not frustrate the purposes of the CRS standard.

Determination

A Member’s Account in the Scheme, as outlined in the scope of this determination, is an excluded account for the purposes of the CRS applied standard and requirements under Part 11B of the Tax Administration Act 1994. If any of the above conditions are not satisfied for a particular Member’s Account this determination will not apply to that account.

Application date

This determination applies for the reporting period beginning 1 April 2018, and subsequent reporting periods under the CRS applied standard.

Dated at Wellington this 15th day of May 2019.

Tony Morris
Customer Segment Lead, Significant Enterprises Customer Segment