SPECIFICATION / Software developers / December 2013tNovember 2015 / UNCLASSIFIED
format / Audience / Date / Classification
Electronic Reporting Specification
Lost members statement (LMS) version 6.0.10
UNCLASSIFIED / For further information visit
UNCLASSIFIED / PAGE1 OF 62
UNCLASSIFIED / ELECTRONIC REPORTING SPECIFICATION – LOST MEMBER STATEMENT
CHANGES IN THIS VERSION OF THE SPECIFICATION
Differences between version 6.0.0 and version 6.0.1
General key changes
- General wording changes to allow for consistency, updates and clarify information and processes
- Changes have not been tracked where sentences have been restructured and the intent/information has not changed
- Acronym table has been updated
- Definitions table – definition for Lost member account (small and/or insoluble lost member account) has been updated.
- The following Sections have been updated
–Section 4 Physical Specifications
–Section 6 Record Specifications
–Section 9 Algorythms
–Section 11 More Information
–Section 12 Checklist
- Various alert boxes have been updated or removed where they are no longer required
Changes to data records, values and definitions
The ATO report specification version number field (7.10) has not changed and remains asFLMRV006.0.
Lost Member data record
- Member Sex (7.67) and associated data definition has been updated to include indeterminate in the definition of U - unknown.
ACRONYMS
Acronym / ExpandedABN / Australian business number
ADF / approved deposit fund
ATO / Australian Taxation Office
ECI / electronic commerce interface
LMR / Lost Members Register
LMS / Lost members statement
NLA / non-lodgment advice
RSA / retirement savings account
SIPOLU / Software Industry Liaison UnitPartnership Office
SMSF / self managed super fund
TFN / tax file number
USI / unique superannuation identifier
USM / Unclaimed superannuation money
Definitions
Term / DefinitionMember / For the purpose of this document, a member is defined as:
- a member of a super fund,
- a depositor in an approved deposit fund (ADF), or
- a holder of a retirement savings account (RSA).
Lost member / A lost member is a member of a superannuation fund who:
- is an inactive member – they are inactive if they joined, as a standard employer-sponsored member, more than two years ago, and there have been no contributions or rollover amounts in the last five years, or
- transferred from another superannuation provider as a lost member and the fund hasn’t found or been advised of a new address, or
- cannot be contacted – the fund may not have been advised of the member’s address or mail sent to the member’s last known address has been returned unclaimed, and there have been no contributions or rollover amounts within the last 12 months of the member’s membership of the fund. If one piece of mail is returned to the fund unclaimed by the member, the fund may choose to report the member as lost. However if the fund receives two pieces of mail unclaimed by the member the fund is required to report the member as lost.
- the fund has confirmed the member's current address within the past 2 years or the member is permanently excluded.
- are an inactive member of the fund, but indicate by a positive act, for example, deferring a benefit, that they wish to remain a member, or
- contact you and indicate that they want to remain a member, or
- are a member of a self managed superannuation fund (SMSF).
Provider / Theobligation to report is imposed by the legislation upon a superannuation provider in respect of a particular superannuation plan. The definition of ‘provider’ in the legislation is therefore:
- for a superannuation fund, the trustee of the fund, or
- for an ADF, the trustee of the fund, or
- for a RSA, the RSA provider.
Supplier / This is the organisation (as authorised by the provider) that gives the statement on behalf of the providers being reported for. A supplier may be a super administrator, tax agent, accountant, employee of a provider or any other properly authorised legal entity. It may also be the provider itself lodging on its own behalf (for example, a super fund or its corporate trustee).
The supplier is the organisation who lodges the Lost members statement (LMS) statement with the ATO.
Non-lodgment advice (NLA) / A non-lodgment advice should be reported on the LMSif:
- there are no new lost members to report, or
- any members taken to be lost and not previously reported as lost have:
–their account balance is nil, and
- any members previously reported as lost:
–were not transferred out, or
–were correctly reported as lost and are still lost.
Unclaimed superannuation money (USM) / An amount payable to a member of a fund is taken to be unclaimed super if:
- the member has reached eligibility age (currently 65 for both male and female), and
- the super provider has not received an amount in respect of the member (and in the case of a defined benefits super scheme, no benefit has accrued in respect of the member) for at least two years, and
- after the end of a period of five years since the super provider last had contact with the member, the provider has been unable to contact the member again after making reasonable efforts.
- a payment split applies to a splittable payment in respect of an interest that a person has as a member of a fund, and
- as a result, the non-member spouse (or his or her legal personal representative if he or she has died) is entitled to be paid an amount, and
- after making reasonable efforts and after a reasonable period has passed, the super provider concerned is unable to ensure that the non-member spouse or his or her legal personal representative, as the case may be, receives the amount.
- the member has died, and
- the super provider determines that, under the governing rules of the fund or by operation of law, a benefit (other than a pension or annuity) is immediately payable in respect of the member, and
- the super provider has not received an amount in respect of the member (and, in the case of a defined benefits super scheme, no benefit has accrued in respect of the member) for at least two years, and
- after making reasonable efforts and after a reasonable period has passed, the super provider is unable to ensure that the benefit is received by the person who is entitled to receive the benefit.
Lost member account (small and/or insoluble lost member account) / For the purposes of this document a lost member account in a fund is taken to be an insoluble lost member account if on the unclaimed money day:
- the member on whose behalf the account is held is a lost member, and
- the super provider has not received an amount in respect of the member within the last 12 months, and
- the super provider is satisfied that it would never be possible for the provider, having regard to the information reasonably available to the provider, to pay an amount in respect of the member, and
- the account does not support or relate to a defined benefit interest (within the meaning of section 292-175 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997).
- the member on whose behalf the account is held is a lost member, and
- the balance of the account is less than $2000 4000 on the unclaimed money day, and
- the account does not support or relate to a defined benefit interest (within the meaning of section 292-175 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997).
Table of contents
1 Introduction
About lost members
Who should use this specification
Lodging via the internet
2 Legal requirements
Reporting obligations
Lost members
Non-lodgment advice
Previously reported members
Retention of information
Extension of time to lodge
Privacy
3 Reporting procedures
Reporting for the first time
Test data
Installing the ECI Practice Facility
Reporting via the internet
Setting up for the ECI
Installing ECI software
Backup of Data
4 Physical specifications
5 Data file format
File structure diagram
File content
Sort order of the report data file
File structure example
6 Record specifications
Header records
CR, LF and EOF markers
Description of terms used in data record specifications
Supplier data record 1
Supplier data record 2
Supplier data record 3
Provider identity data record
Lost member data record
Employer data record
File total data record
7 Data field definitions and validation rules
Reporting of address details
Reporting of name fields
Field definitions and edit rules
8 Example of data file structure
Data records
Supplier data record 1
Supplier data record 2
Supplier data record 3
Provider identity data record
Lost member data record
Employer data record
File total data record
9 Algorithms
TFN algorithm
ABN algorithm
10 Notification of errors
Outcome of lodgment report
Reporting amendments
Members reported in error
11 More information
Contacting us
ECI
Provider enquiries
Software developers homepage
UNCLASSIFIED / 1UNCLASSIFIED / Insert Document Title
1 Introduction
About lost members
All superannuation providers, with the exception of a self managed super fund (SMSF) need to lodge regularreports with the Australian Taxation Office(ATO) providing details of their lostmembers. The ATO uses these details tokeep the Lost Members Register (LMR) current.
The LMR is a central register of lostsuper fund members and retirement savings account (RSA) holdersmaintained by the ATO. The ATO provides ways for members to determine if they have super benefits that are on the LMR and then take action to re-unite the member with any of their identified lost super. These services are provided by the ATO through web, telephone and direct correspondence.
The information supplied will not update stored registration information held by the ATO. To update address details, contact details, preferred correspondence methods, and address for services of notice, utilise the Change of registration details process. For further information on the change of registration details process visit .
Who should use this specification
This specification is to be used in the development of software for the lodgment of electronic versions of any lost super member information to the ATO. Only version 6.0.0 1 of the electronic reporting specification will be accepted from 1 July 2016 for reports of the period ending 30 June 2016.
Lodging via the internet
Super providers can lodgestatements online through the free electronic commerce interface (ECI) software.
Lodging online will:
- reduce paperwork
- provide a secure way for reports to be lodged
- provide an online receipt when the report is lodged
- ensure that all of the necessary fields to lodge the report have been completed, via in-built checks, and
- be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
The ATO no longer accepts electronic Lost members statement (LMS) lodgments on electronic storage media.
2 Legal requirements
Reporting obligations
Under Regulation 6 of the Superannuation (Unclaimed Money and Lost Members) Regulations 1999, information about lost members is required to be reported within four months of the end of each half year.
The due dates for lodgment of lost member information are:
- For the half year ending on 30 June in a year – on or before 31 October in that year,
- For the half year ending 31 December in a year – on or before 30 April in the following year,
- If the Commissioner has granted an extension, on or before the extension date.
Where the due date falls on a weekend the date for lodgment will be the next business day.
Lost members
Section 23 of the Superannuation (Unclaimed Money and Lost Members) Act 1999establishes the provisions for what information about lost members must be reported to the Commissioner of Taxation.
For each reporting period providers will be required to report:
- Any member who satisfies the definition of lost (page vi) and has not been previously reported.
- Any member who has previously been reported as lost and has since:
–been successfully contacted or re-established contact
–indicated by a positive act that they wish to remain a member (an example of a positive act is a telephone call or written communication)
–been transferredto another super fund or RSA
–been reported and paid to the ATO as Unclaimed superannuation money (USM) (including small and/or insoluble lost member accounts and temporary residents), or
–been reported to a State or Territory authority as unclaimed money.
A non-lodgment advice (NLA) must be lodged where the provider does not have any members who are lost or have had a change of member status for a reporting period. This can be done on this report.
Non-lodgment advice
NLAs are now required to be reported using this specification. If a provider has no lost, inactive, found, transferred or previously reported in error members to report for a period they are required to complete the relevant parts of the LMSand submit it to the ATO within the timeframes already defined.
Previously reported members
If necessary, an existing lost or inactive member record can be removedfrom the LMR which may originally have been reported in error, transferred or has since beenfound.
If this has occurred, the ATOwill need to be supplied with an updated LMSfor the member. For this data record to be accepted, the following information must be supplied and be exactly as previously advised:
- Provider tax file number (TFN)
- Member account number
- Member client identifier
Where all of the above information is not supplied (but where these values apply), the ATO may fail to match the data with the original record. This can cause the new LMS to reject and not be applied.
It is important that the above information is provided exactly as previously advised. This will ensure member details are correctly updated.
Use the members current balance in the Member account balance field unless that amount is zero. If the member’s current balance is zero then use the value of 0000000001. Zero or negative balances will not be accepted.
Any small and/or insoluble lost member accounts previously reported on the LMS that are required to be reported and paid to USM must be reported as transferred (T) on the LMS. To ensure that the account that is transferred is removed from the LMR, you must report on the LMS the account details (as described above) exactly as previously reported. Otherwise the account will not match in our systems and it will not be removed from the LMR.
Where a member becomes a small or insoluble lost member account for the first time,do not report them as lost before reporting as unclaimed.
Retention of information
Section 48 of the Superannuation (Unclaimed Money and Lost Members) Act 1999, outlines the requirement for record retention in relation to lost member reporting.
A super provider who keeps or obtains records for the purposes of reporting lost members must retain them until the later of:
- the end of 5 years after they were prepared or obtained, or
- the completion of the transactions or acts to which those records relate.
Extension of time to lodge
Contact the ATO via email on to request an extension of time to lodge.
Privacy
The Privacy Act 1988 limits the collection, storage, use and disclosure of personal information about individuals by the ATO, other Commonwealth Government departments and agencies.
New private sector provisions in the Privacy Act also regulate the way many private sector organisations collect, use, secure and disclose personal information. The private sector provisions aim to give people greater control over the way information about them is handled in the private sector by requiring organisations to comply with ten national privacy principles. These principles give individuals the right to know what information an organisation holds about them and a right to correct that information if it is wrong.
The Privacy Commissioner’s Guidelines to the Australian Privacy Principles and other relevant information sheets are available at .
It is the responsibility of private sector organisations to obtain their own advice on the effect of privacy law, including the Australian Privacy Principles on their operations.
3Reporting procedures
Reporting for the first time
Software developers developing software for the electronic generation of the LMS should refer to this specification when developing their application. Information is also available on the software developers homepage at .
The Software developers homepage is maintained by the ATO on behalf of, and in consultation with, the software development industry and business advisers. It facilitates the development and listing of software which may assist businesses to meet their tax reporting obligations.
Commercial software developers are required to register on the Software developers homepage if they wish to list their products. Software developers who do not wish to list products do not need to register in order to access information. Subscribing for email updates is recommended for developers to be notified of significant issues and new and updated information.