Private ruling: Superannuation lump sum from foreign superannuation fund
Date of advice: 7 December 2015
Published: February 2016
Ruling period: Year ending 30 June 2015
Date scheme commenced: 1 July 2014

Ruling: Q1: Is any part of the lump sum payment you received from your Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) assessable as applicable fund earnings under section 305-70 of the Income Tax Assessment 1997 (ITAA 1997)? | A1: No. | Q2: Will you be entitled to claim a credit (in full or in part) for the tax withheld by the relevant Revenue Agency in respect of the lump sum payment? | A2: Yes.

Relevant facts and circumstances: You are a resident of Australia for tax purposes. You held funds with a foreign country. During the 20XX-YY financial year you attained a specific age. After turning this age you were informed that an RRSP held in the foreign country under your name had matured. You state that you have paid the applicable withholding taxes in this country. You have provided the web-link for the Fund's rules, which can be found on the Revenue Agency website. You have acknowledged that the Fund is not a locked-in Fund.

Relevant legislative provisions: Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 Subsection 295-95(2). | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 Section 305-70. | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 Subsection 305-75(2). | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 Subsection 305-75(3). | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 Paragraph 305-75(3)(a). | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 Paragraph 305-75(3)(b). | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 Paragraph 305-75(3)(c). | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 Paragraph 305-75(3)(d). | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 Section 960-50. | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 Subsection 960-50(1). | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 Subsection 960-50(4). | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 Subsection 960-50(6). | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 Subsection 770-10(1). | Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 Subsection 995-1(1). Anti-avoidance rules | None

Reasons for decision: Summary: No part of the lump sum payment you received from your Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) is assessable as applicable fund earnings under section 305-70 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (ITAA 1997) because the Fund is not a foreign superannuation fund. The portion of your withdrawal that relates to income accumulated in the RRSP will be assessable in Australia. You will be entitled to claim a FITO for tax paid to the Revenue Agency in relation to that portion of your withdrawal that is assessable in Australia. | Detailed Reasoning - Lump sum payments transferred from foreign superannuation funds: The applicable fund earnings in relation to a lump sum payment from a foreign superannuation fund that is received more than six months after a person has become an Australian resident will be assessable under section 305-70 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (ITAA 1997). The remainder of the lump sum payment is not assessable income and is not exempt income. The 'applicable fund earnings' is the amount worked out under either subsections 305-75(2) or 305-75(3) of the ITAA 1997. Subsection 305-75(2) applies where the person was an Australian resident at all times during the period to which the lump sum relates. Subsection 305-75(3) applies where the person becomes an Australian resident after the start of the period to which the lump sum relates. Before determining whether an amount is assessable under section 305-70 of the ITAA 1997, it is necessary to ascertain whether the payment is being made from a foreign superannuation fund. If the entity making the payment is not a foreign superannuation fund then section 305-70 will not have any application. | Detailed Reasoning - Foreign superannuation fund: A foreign superannuation fund is defined in subsection 995-1(1) of the ITAA 1997 as follows: (a) a superannuation fund is a foreign superannuation fund at a time if the fund is not an Australian superannuation fund at that time; and (b) a superannuation fund is a foreign superannuation fund for an income year if the fund is not an Australian superannuation fund for the income year. Subsection 295-95(2) of the ITAA 1997 defines Australian superannuation fund as follows: A superannuation fund is an Australian superannuation fund at a time, and for the income year in which that time occurs, if: (a) the fund was established in Australia, or any asset of the fund is situated in Australia at that time; and (b) at that time, the central management and control of the fund is ordinarily in Australia; and (c) at that time either the fund had no member covered by subsection (3) (an active member ) or at least 50% of: (i) the total market value of the funds assets attributable to superannuation interests held by active members; or (ii) the sum of the amounts that would be payable to or in respect of active members if they voluntarily ceased to be members; is attributable to superannuation interests held by active members who are Australian residents. Thus, a superannuation fund that is established outside of Australia and has its central management and control outside of Australia would qualify as a 'foreign superannuation fund'. The fact that some of its members may be Australian residents would not necessarily alter this. Subsection 995-1(1) of the ITAA 1997 defines a superannuation fund as having the same meaning given by section 10 of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (SIS Act), that is: (a) a fund that: (i) is an indefinitely continuing fund; and (ii) is a provident, benefit, superannuation or retirement fund; or (a) a public sector superannuation scheme; | Detailed Reasoning - Provident, benefit, superannuation or retirement fund: The High Court examined both the terms superannuation fund and fund in Scott v Commissioner of Taxation of the Commonwealth (No. 2) (1966) 10 AITR 290; (1966) 40 ALJR 265; (1966) 14 ATD 333 (Scott). In that case, Justice Windeyer stated: …I have come to the conclusion that there is no essential single attribute of a superannuation fund established for the benefit of employees except that it must be a fund bona fide devoted as its sole purpose to providing for employees who are participants money benefits (or benefits having a monetary value) upon their reaching a prescribed age. In this connexion "fund", I take it, ordinarily means money (or investments) set aside and invested, the surplus income therefrom being capitalised. I do not put this forward as a definition, but rather as a general description. The issue of what constitutes a provident, benefit, superannuation or retirement fund was discussed by the Full Bench of the High Court in Mahony v Commissioner of Taxation (Cth) (1967) 41 ALJR 232; (1967) 14 ATD 519 ( Mahony ). In that case, Justice Kitto held that a fund had to exclusively be a 'provident, benefit or superannuation fund' and that 'connoted a purpose narrower than the purpose of conferring benefits in a completely general sense…". This narrower purpose meant that the benefits had to be 'characterised by some specific future purpose' such as the example given by Justice Kitto of a funeral benefit. Furthermore, Justice Kitto's judgement indicated that a fund does not satisfy any of the three provisions, that is, 'provident, benefit or superannuation fund', if there exist provisions for the payment of benefits 'for any other reason whatsoever'. In other words, though a fund may contain provisions for retirement purposes, it could not be accepted as a superannuation fund if it contained provisions that benefits could be paid in circumstances other than those relating to retirement. In section 62 of the SIS Act, a regulated superannuation fund must be 'maintained solely' for the 'core purposes' of providing benefits to a member when the events occur: • on or after retirement from gainful employment; or • attaining a prescribed age; and • on the member's death. (this may require the benefits being passed on to a member's dependants or legal representative). Notwithstanding the SIS Act applies only to 'regulated superannuation funds' (as defined in section 19 of the SIS Act), and foreign superannuation funds do not qualify as regulated superannuation funds as they are established and operate outside Australia, the Commissioner views the SIS Act (and the SIS Regulations) as providing guidance as to what 'benefit' or 'specific future purpose' a superannuation fund should provide. In view of the legislation and the decisions made in Scott and Mahony , the Commissioner's view is that for a fund to be classified as a superannuation fund, it must exclusively provide a narrow range of benefits that are characterised by some specific future purpose. That is, the payment of superannuation benefits upon retirement, invalidity or death of the individual or as specified under the SIS Act. Therefore, in order for the lump sum payment to be considered a payment from a foreign superannuation fund as defined in subsection 995-1(1) of the ITAA 1997, it must also satisfy the requirements set out in subsection 295-95(2). This means that it should not be an Australian superannuation fund as defined in that subsection but must be a provident, benefit, superannuation or retirement fund as discussed above. It is noted that the RRSP satisfies some of the requirements of a foreign superannuation fund as it is established and operated outside Australia and the central management and control is outside of Australia. However, the fund is not exclusively a provident, benefit or superannuation fund because it does not provide benefits for the specific future purposes of the individual's retirement. In other words, the RRSP provides for the payment of benefits for reasons other than retirement and not solely (that is, exclusively) for retirement purposes. Accordingly, the RRSP does not fall within the definition of a foreign superannuation fund and subsection 305-70(2) of the ITAA 1997 will not have any application in this instance. The RRSP is a foreign trust as defined in subsection 481(3) of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936 (ITAA 1936) and is therefore a foreign investment fund (FIF). | Detailed Reasoning - Repeal of FIF measures: On 14 July 2010, the FIF measures were repealed and do not apply from the 2010-11 income year onwards. If you have an interest in a FIF, you will be subject to the general tax rules applicable to your circumstances - for example, the general tax rules relating to trust income. | Detailed Reasoning - Assessability of trust income: Section 6-10 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (ITAA 1997) provides that the assessable income of a resident taxpayer includes statutory income amounts that are not ordinary income but are included in assessable income by another provision. Subsection 6-10(4) of the ITAA 1997 provides that for an Australian resident, your assessable income includes statutory income derived from all sources, whether in or out of Australia, during the income year. Section 10-5 of the ITAA 1997 lists certain statutory amounts that form part of assessable income. Included in this list is income derived pursuant to section 99B of the ITAA 1936. Subsection 99B(1) of the ITAA 1936 provides that where, during a year of income, a beneficiary who was a resident at any time during the year is paid a distribution from a trust, or has an amount of trust property applied for their benefit, the amount is to be included in the assessable income of the beneficiary. Subsection 99B(2) of the ITAA 1936 modifies the rule in subsection 99B(1) and has the effect that the amount to be included in assessable income under subsection (1) is not to include any amount that represents either: • the corpus of the trust (paragraph 99B(2)(a) of the ITAA 1936) • amounts that would not have been included in the assessable income of a resident taxpayer (paragraph 99B(2)(b) of the ITAA 1936), and • amounts previously included in the beneficiaries income under section 97 of the ITAA 1936 (paragraph 99B(2)(c) of the ITAA1936). Paragraph 99B(2)(a) of the ITAA 1936 requires regard to be had to whether or not the amount derived by a trust estate was of a kind that would have been assessable if derived by a resident taxpayer. Thus, for example, if, in accordance with the terms of the trust, income were accumulated and added to corpus and the capitalised amount is subsequently paid or applied for the benefit of a beneficiary, the beneficiary would be assessable on the amount provided (subject to other paragraphs of subsection 99B(2) of the ITAA 1936). | Detailed Reasoning - Application to your circumstances: In this case, you withdrew your interest in the RRSP as a lump sum payment. A withdrawal of an amount that represents amounts deposited by you would come within paragraph 99B(2)(a) of the ITAA 1936. Distributions, to the extent that they come within subsection 99B(2) of the ITAA 1936, would be excluded from amounts assessable under subsection 99B(1) of the ITAA 1936. However, the income accumulated in the RRSP (paid to you as a resident taxpayer) that is normally taxable in Australia and had not been previously subjected to tax in Australia would be assessable to you under subsection 99B(1) of the ITAA 1936. Therefore, the withdrawal will have to be apportioned accordingly. This amount would be included at question 20 label E in the supplement section as 'Assessable foreign source income'. | Detailed Reasoning - Foreign income tax offset (FITO): Subsection 770-10(1) of the ITAA 1997 provides that FITO can be claimed for foreign income tax paid by a taxpayer in respect of an amount that is included in their assessable income. If the foreign income tax has been paid on an amount that is part non-assessable non-exempt income and part assessable income for the income year, only a proportionate share of the foreign income tax paid (the share that corresponds to the part that is assessable income) will count towards the tax offset. Foreign income tax is a tax imposed by a law other than an Australian law, on income, profits or gains (subsection 770-15(1) of the ITAA 1997). The taxpayer must have paid the foreign income tax before an offset is available. A taxpayer is deemed to have paid the foreign income tax if the foreign income tax has been withheld from the income at its source. However, section 770-140 of the ITAA 1997 will deem you not to have paid foreign income tax to the extent that you or any other associated entity become entitled to a refund of the foreign income tax . In your case, you will be entitled to claim a FITO for tax paid to the relevant Revenue Agency in relation to that portion of your withdrawals that are assessable in Australia; and conversely, the relevant tax paid in relation to the withdrawal of your contributions will not be eligible for FITO. You will include your FITO at question 20 label O in the supplement section as a 'Foreign income tax offset' The actual amount of any FITO available to you will be dependent on how the tax is calculated and your foreign tax offset cap for the year. The cap is an upper limit of the amount of FITO that can be allowed (section 770-70 of the ITAA 1997). This cap is generally based on the amount of Australian tax payable on the double-taxed amounts. A taxpayer does not need to calculate the foreign tax offset cap if they elect to use the $1000 'de minimise cap'. If a taxpayer elects this, they cannot claim more than $1000 of the foreign income tax paid. For more information on calculating your foreign tax offset cap see our Guide to foreign income tax offset rules 2014-15 which can be found on our website www.ato.gov.au.