@a
guide / EXTERNAL / SEPTEMBER 2015 / UNCLASSIFIED
format / Audience / Date / Classification
SUPERANNUATION DATA & PAYMENT STANDARD 2012
FUND VALIDATION SERVICE
USER GUIDE
Version 2.1
UNCLASSIFIED / For further information or questions, email
Error! Unknown document property name. / SuperStream Rollover MIG / PAGE 2 OF 20
FUND VALIDATION SERVICE USER GUIDE
VERSION CONTROL
Version / Release date / Description of changes1.0 / 12/03/2013 / Original release version
1.8 / 19/11/2014 / Updated for extension of existing service
2.0 / 31/03/2015 / Updated for web-service deployment
2.1 / 17/07/2015 / Update for Web Service cut-over
ENDORSEMENT
APPROVAL
SuperStream Data Standards & eCommerce sub-program (Super Reform Program) – ATO
/ Philip Hind
(National Program Manager)
Table of Contents
1. Purpose 4
2. Background 4
3. Service overview 4
3.1 Web Service Implementation Plan 5
3.2 Access 5
3.3 Authorised Agents 6
3.4 Publishing Annuity Details in the Register 6
4. Lodge Super Product (FVSU) 7
4.1 Providing and Updating USI details 7
4.2 Response from Lodge Super Product service 8
4.3 Additional Controls for updating Financial Institution Account Details 9
5. List Super Product Details (FVSL) 10
5.1 Response from List Super Product Details Message 10
6. Get Super Product Details (FVSG) 11
6.1 Get Super Product Details Single message 11
6.2 Get Super Product Details Bulk 12
7. Errors Identified in the Register 12
8. Help 12
Attachment A: Security Guidelines 14
Attachment B: Common descriptions for FVS Data labels 16
Attachment C: Links to further information 20
1. Purpose
The purpose of this document is to provide guidance on use of the Fund Validation Service (FVS).
This user guide explains the operation of the three FVS web-services that have replaced the transitional FVS.
2. Background
The FVS is a suite of services supporting the implementation of the Superannuation Data & Payment Standard (‘the Standard’), part of the Government’s Super Reform package. The Standard provides a consistent, reliable electronic method of transacting linked superannuation data and payments.
The FVS supports the Standard by providing a service for funds to meet their regulatory obligation to provide rollover and contribution information on the Fund Details Register.
The FVS also provides a number of lookup services for funds, employers and intermediaries to access this information to support the making of rollovers or contributions in the Standard.
The FVS is accessed through the Standard Business Reporting (SBR) framework. You may need to build or purchase FVS enabled software from a developer or provider who has done this for you.
3. Service overview
A transitional service has been in place since 1 July 2013, using a combination of the ATO Business Portal to collect superannuation information which is published fortnightly through the Data Transfer Facility.
From July 2015 the transitional FVS was replaced by SBR enabled web-services:
· Get (FVSG) – allows superannuation providers and employers to obtain details of a superannuation product. These details include banking details, electronic service address and contact details. This may be queried as either a single request for one product, or a bulk request to get all super product details.
· List (FVSL) – provides superannuation providers and employers with a list of all of the provider’s products. A list of the provider’s product names and product Unique Superannuation Identifiers (USI) is returned.
· Lodge (FVSU) – allows superannuation providers and their nominated intermediaries to notify the ATO of new or changed details for their superannuation products including banking details, electronic service address, effective dates, standards certification and contact details for assistance.
Access to relevant services is established by the ATO and use of the FVS will depend on the way it is integrated with your internal business procedures.
For more information on building this software or to identify software developers who have certified software for the FVS, visit the software developers section of the SBR web site.
Use of the FVS must be in accordance with the Terms & Conditions of use.
3.1 Web Service Implementation Plan
The FVS web services were released as follows:
§ The final version of the fortnightly FVS, version 51 – was published on 25 June 2015
§ To provide stability for the Fund Details Register during the release of the web-services, there was a freeze on USI updates between 19 June and 27 July 2015
§ From 13 July 2015, the FVSG web-service is the authoritative version of the Fund Details Register
There was a soft cutover for the Lodge (FVSU) service from Monday, 27 July 2015:
.
§ Changes to the FVS can be made either via the new FVSU web service or via the existing Business Portal facility
§ Users should lodge updates through one channel only
§ Where a fund has access to the FVSU web-service, they are expected to use the FVSU web-service to update their USI information
§ Dual channels for updates will be maintained by the ATO until 18 September 2015, at which point the Portal facility will become inoperative
§ The ATO will continue to work with developers to progress their testing and implementation readiness for the service
§ Users are reminded that any updates to the FVS require a minimum of 10 business days prior notice to the date of effect (see Section 4.1)
§ The ATO is closely monitoring updates for compliance with this requirement and to quality assure updates during the cutover period
From 18 September 2015 updates to the FVS will only be accepted through the FVSU web service. Any superannuation provider not able to access the FVSU web service by 18 September 2015 must have alternate arrangements in place with a third-party provider.
3.2 Access
Access to the FVS is managed by the ATO and is only available to superannuation providers, employers and entities with a business purpose supporting fund and employer compliance with the Standard. It is important that all intermediaries supporting employers (payroll provider, fund, clearing house, etc.) consider how to best access and utilise the information in the FVS.
Please refer to the relevant section of this user guide for detailed information on the services:
Employers must apply via email to , for access to FVSG bulk.
3.3 Authorised Agents
Many users will have third party agents (also known as intermediaries) who are authorised to perform specific functions on their behalf (e.g. administrators, gateway providers, clearing houses and payroll providers).
The appropriate method for authorising access to a third party is through the Business Appointment functions in Access Manager.
Agents are required to use the service in accordance with the terms and conditions and each user is accountable for ensuring this responsibility is understood by any agents transacting on their behalf.
If authorisation of an agent is withdrawn, you should remove the Business Appointment using Access Manager.
Access Manager permissions for the services are displayed with the following description, and whether business appointments are available for the service:
Web-service name / Access Manager Description / Business AppointmentsFVS Lodge (FVSU) / Lodge super product details / Available
FVS List (FVSL) / List super products / Available
FVS Get (FVSG) - Single / View super product details / Available
FVS Get (FVSG) – Bulk / Not displayed / Not available
The authorisation of intermediaries is also described in the ATO Common MIG.
3.4 Publishing Annuity Details in the Register
All APRA-regulated super funds must provide particular fund details to the Commissioner of Taxation under subsection 34Z(2) of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act (SISA).
The intent of this obligation is to facilitate the efficient processing of rollovers and contributions electronically, using the Superannuation Data and Payment Standards, by providing all users with access to reliable message and payment delivery details. The Commissioner makes this information available in the register. The Commissioner is able to disclose the contents of the register to entities that must comply with the Standard.
Life insurance companies do not have to comply with the Standard and therefore details about their products aren’t generally included in the register. In order to support the voluntary adoption of the Standard by a life insurance company, the Commissioner may publish details of annuity products in the register where those details are already available to the public.
To support this process, the Commissioner requires written confirmation from a life insurance company that the details of the annuity products to be included in the register are published in a publicly available source, such as on a provider’s website, and that those publicly available details will be kept up to date, before details of those annuity products are included in the register. Please send your written confirmation to .
When publishing information we recommend that you follow the specification and detail set out in the FVS technical documentation for the FVSU Service to ensure the published content aligns with the information required in the Register.
4. Lodge Super Product (FVSU)
The Lodge Super Product service is mandatory for superannuation providers and allows funds to notify the ATO of new or updated product details.
The FVS depends on information received from Trustees or their agents. As such, the ATO cannot make any guarantees as to the accuracy of the information where appropriate care and diligence has not been applied by the superannuation provider when updating the register.
The transaction flow for Lodge super product (FVSU) messages:
4.1 Providing and Updating USI details
Changed details require 10 business days’ notice (28 days for critical data)
Fund Trustees are required to update the ATO with any changes to product details at least 10 business days[1] before the change is effective.
Where you are lodging a new USI, or changing critical data, such as bank accounts or end-point service addresses, it is best practice to provide these details at least 28 days before they become effective.
This allows sufficient time for gateways and clearing houses to ensure their systems are updated to reflect these changes and superannuation rollovers and contributions are sent to the correct destination.
Where you are end-dating a USI, ensure you allow sufficient time for this USI to receive transactions from employers, clearing houses and superannuation funds that may be already be in progress.
When providing or updating USI details, you are required to submit the full mandatory data set of the USI, even if you are only changing one data label. Although secondary details are not mandatory, you should always include both primary and secondary bank account details and secondary end-point service addresses (this will ensure a complete data record is listed against your USI).
Unless making a USI inactive, the ‘Effective To’ date in all updates should remain 31/12/9999. Where you provide an actual end date in the transaction it takes the effect of closing that USI from that date. To ‘reactivate’ an existing USI, you will need to lodge new details with the new ‘Effective From’ and ‘Effective To’.
The following example provides guidance on how updating the FVS will be reflected in the FVSG services (this example is in general language only and summarised for guidance only):
Example:
XYZ Fund is updating a USI on 15 May 2015 after completing contributions induction, to reflect they are now cross-certified for contributions, with the new information effective from 15 June 2015.
The fund provides all of the existing USI details with the new certification value of ROLL 1.0-X CONT 1.0-X, which is successfully processed by the ATO.
The FVSG bulk file, which is updated overnight, will show this USI in the extract the following day as follows:
Effective From / Effective To / … / Certification Value / USI15/06/2015 / 31/12/9999 / … / ROLL 1.0-X CONT 1.0-X / 12345678901234
1/07/2014 / 14/06/2015 / … / ROLL 1.0-X / 12345678901234
The FVSG single service will return the current details of the USI on the day of the request, so the new Certification details will not be returned through the single service until 15 June 2015.
For full detail on messaging interactions, please refer to the ATO Common MIG, Web Implementation Guide (WIG), FVS MIG and other associated technical documents on the Enabling services section of the SBR website.
4.2 Response from Lodge Super Product service
Once a message has been received by the ATO, and passed validation, you will receive a CMN.ATO.GEN.OK response.
The message will then be processed within the fund details register and you will receive one of the following response codes:
SBR Message code / Short descriptionCMN.ATO.FVSU.OK / ‘Lodgment successful’
CMN.ATO.FVSU.RECV / ‘Lodgment received. Financial institution account details will be validated’
CMN.ATO.FVSU.FAIL / ‘Lodgment failed’
Once a successful message has been processed (CMN.ATO.FVSU.OK), the updated product details will be available via the single look-up services immediately and through the bulk service the following day.
Where an update includes a change to, or new, Financial Institution Account (FIA) details a CMN.ATO.FVSU.RECV message will be returned to the user, advising the update requires confirmation. Updates to these USIs will not be available through the look-up services until verified by a secondary contact. Once the change has been approved, the updated product details will be available via the single look-up services immediately and through the bulk service the following day.
An unsuccessful message will return the error message CMN.ATO.FVSU.FAIL. This error may occur where the USI exists for another Australian Business Number (ABN), or there has been an unexpected error during processing. You will need to check the details submitted in the message, update data if required, and re-submit the request.
Refer to Section 8 if you have identified an error with the data
For further information or assistance, contact the ATO at
4.3 Additional Controls for updating Financial Institution Account Details
To reduce the risk of unauthorised changes to FIA details of each fund, the ATO has introduced a secondary verification process to safeguard updates to this information. This process applies to FIA details on new products or updates to existing products and will assist in mitigating the risk of unauthorised changes through the new web service.