Superannuation (Financial Assistance Funding) Levy Act 1993

Act No. 79 of 1993 as amended

This compilation was prepared on 4 July 2003
taking into account amendments up to Act No. 51 of 2003

The text of any of those amendments not in force
on that date is appended in the Notes section

The operation of amendments that have been incorporated may be
affected by application provisions that are set out in the Notes section

Prepared by the Office of Legislative Drafting,
Attorney‑General’s Department, Canberra

Contents

1 Short title [see Note 1]

2 Commencement [see Note 1]

3 Object of Act

4 Application of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act

5 Interpretation

6 Regulations may impose levies

7 Basis for prescribing amount of levy

8 Amount of levy

9 Levies may discriminate between classes of funds

10 Regulations

Notes

An Act to impose levies on superannuation funds and approved deposit funds for the purpose of funding financial assistance to certain funds that have suffered loss as a result of fraudulent conduct or theft

1  Short title [see Note 1]

  This Act may be cited as the Superannuation (Financial Assistance Funding) Levy Act 1993.

2  Commencement [see Note 1]

  This Act commences on the same day as Part 23 of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993.

3  Object of Act

  The object of this Act is to impose levies on superannuation funds and approved deposit funds for the purpose of funding financial assistance under Part 23 of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 to certain funds that have suffered loss as a result of fraudulent conduct or theft.

4  Application of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act

  Section 9, and Division 2 of Part 1, of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 apply in relation to this Act in a corresponding way to the way in which they apply in relation to that Act.

5  Interpretation

  In this Act, unless the contrary intention appears:

fund means a regulated superannuation fund or an approved deposit fund, but does not include a self managed superannuation fund.

levy means levy imposed by regulations under section 6 of this Act.

6  Regulations may impose levies

 (1) If the Minister makes a determination under Part 23 of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 to grant financial assistance to a fund, the regulations may impose a levy or levies on each fund other than:

 (a) the first‑mentioned fund; or

 (b) another fund in respect of which such a determination was made in the same financial year.

 (1A) If the Minister makes more than one determination in a financial year under Part 23 of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 to grant financial assistance, the regulations may impose a levy on each fund that is not a fund in respect of which a determination was made in the same financial year.

 (1B) Regulations made for the purposes of subsection (1A) imposing a levy in respect of more than one determination must specify all the funds in respect of which determinations are made and the proportion of the levy that each fund represents.

 (2) Each levy must be identified in the regulations by a unique number.

 (3) Regulations imposing a levy in respect of one or more determinations may specify that either or both of the following are payable:

 (a) a maximum amount of levy;

 (b) a minimum amount of levy.

7  Basis for prescribing amount of levy

 (1) Subject to subsection (2):

 (a) the rate or rates of a levy that are imposed because of one or more grants of financial assistance under Part 23 of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993; and

 (b) the maximum amount of levy, and the minimum amount of levy, that is payable;

are to be fixed on the basis that the amount of revenue to be raised by the levy or by the levy and any previous levy imposed because of the same grant or grants of financial assistance is not to exceed the amount of levy needed to recoup the Commonwealth for the amount of that financial assistance.

 (2) The rate or rates of a levy imposed in a financial year are not to be such that the total of the amounts payable in respect of the levy, or the total of those amounts and any amounts payable in respect of a previous levy imposed in the same financial year, would exceed 0.05% of the sum of the values at the end of the previous financial year of all the assets of the funds on which the levy or levies are imposed.

 (3) In making regulations fixing the rate or rates of a levy, regard is to be had to subsections (1) and (2) but the validity of a regulation is not affected merely because it fixes a rate or rates of levy in excess of the maximum rate or rates required because of those subsections.

8  Amount of levy

 (1) The amount of a levy imposed on a fund is worked out using the formula:

  where:

Applicable rate means the rate (expressed as a decimal fraction) that, under the regulations, is the rate of the levy applicable to the fund.

Value of assets means the value of the assets of the fund at the end of the last financial year of the fund before the day on which the regulation imposing the levy took effect.

 (1A) However:

 (a) if there is a maximum amount of levy that is payable and the amount worked out under subsection (1) is more than that maximum amount—the amount of levy imposed on the fund is the maximum amount; or

 (b) if there is a minimum amount of levy that is payable and the amount worked out under subsection (1) is less than that minimum amount—the amount of levy imposed on the fund is the minimum amount.

 (2) The applicable rate must not exceed 0.0005.

9  Levies may discriminate between classes of funds

 (1) Regulations imposing a levy:

 (a) may provide different rates of the levy for different classes of funds; but

 (b) must not otherwise discriminate between different funds.

 (2) Regulations imposing a levy may define what constitutes a class of funds for the purposes of the levy but must not define a class in such a way that the levy would discriminate between States or parts of States.

10  Regulations

  The Governor‑General may make regulations prescribing matters:

 (a) required or permitted by this Act to be prescribed; or

 (b) necessary or convenient to be prescribed for carrying out or giving effect to this Act.

Notes to the Superannuation (Financial Assistance Funding) Levy Act 1993

Note 1

The Superannuation (Financial Assistance Funding) Levy Act 1993 as shown in this compilation comprises Act No. 79, 1993 amended as indicated in the Tables below.

For all relevant information pertaining to application, saving or transitional provisions see Table A.

Table of Acts

(a) The Superannuation (Financial Assistance Funding) Levy Act 1993 was amended by Schedule 9 (items 2–4) only of the Financial Sector Reform (Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Act (No. 1) 2000, subsections 2(1), (12) and (13) of which provide as follows:

 (1) Subject to this section, this Act commences on the day on which it receives the Royal Assent.

 (12) Part 1 of Schedule 12 commences:

 (a) after all of the Acts listed in subsection (13) have received the Royal Assent; and

 (b) on the day that is the last day on which any of those Acts received the Royal Assent.

 (13) These are the relevant Acts for the purposes of paragraph (12)(a):

 (a) this Act;

 (b) each of the Acts referred to in the definition of Validation Act in item 1 of Schedule 12 to this Act.

Table of Amendments

Table A

Application, saving or transitional provisions

Financial Sector Reform (Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Act (No. 1) 2000 (No. 24, 2000)

Schedule 12

Part 1—Transitional provisions for validation of determinations relating to financial sector supervisory levies

1  Definitions

In this Part:

Collection Act means the Financial Institutions Supervisory Levies Collection Act 1998.

deferred payment day means the day that is 6 weeks after the day on which this Part commences.

Imposition Act means any of the following Acts:

 (a) the Authorised Non‑operating Holding Companies Supervisory Levy Imposition Act 1998;

 (b) the General Insurance Supervisory Levy Imposition Act 1998;

 (c) the Life Insurance Supervisory Levy Imposition Act 1998;

 (d) the Retirement Savings Account Providers Supervisory Levy Imposition Act 1998;

 (e) the Superannuation Supervisory Levy Imposition Act 1998.

levy paying entity has the same meaning as in the Collection Act.

Validation Act means any of the following Acts:

 (a) the Authorised Non‑operating Holding Companies Supervisory Levy Determination Validation Act 2000;

 (b) the General Insurance Supervisory Levy Determination Validation Act 2000;

 (c) the Life Insurance Supervisory Levy Determination Validation Act 2000;

 (d) the Retirement Savings Account Providers Supervisory Levy Determination Validation Act 2000;

 (e) the Superannuation Supervisory Levy Determination Validation Act 2000.

2  Deferral of date for paying levy

(1) This item applies to a levy paying entity if, because of section 4 of a Validation Act:

 (a) the entity is liable to pay levy imposed by an Imposition Act; and

 (b) the levy payable by the entity would, apart from this item, have been due and payable under section 9 of the Collection Act before the deferred payment day.

(2) The levy payable by the entity is taken to be due and payable on the deferred payment day, despite section 9 of the Collection Act.

Note: This provision affects the calculation of late payment penalty (if any) under section 10 of the Collection Act.

3  No retrospective criminal liability

Nothing in this Part or the Validation Acts is taken to make a person criminally liable in respect of acts or omissions of the person before the day on which this Part commences, if the person would not have been so liable had this Part and the Validation Acts not been enacted.

Part 5—Application of amendments of superannuation legislation relating to financial assistance to funds

10  Application of amendments of superannuation legislation relating to financial assistance to funds

The amendments made by Schedule 9 only apply in relation to losses incurred by a fund after the commencement of that Schedule.