Treasury Laws Amendment (2018 Measures No. 4) Bill 2018 passed both Houses on Tuesday, the 12th of February 2019.
Schedule 8 to this Bill makes miscellaneous amendments to the taxation, superannuation and other laws.
It also includes the amendment to the meaning of the term retirement phase that was impacting the payment of reversionary transition to retirement income streams (TRISs) since super reform started on the 1st of July 2017.
As part of the super reform, the transition to retirement income stream is no longer considered to be in the retirement phase, so where a recipient of transition to retirement income stream (TRIS) who was in pension phase dies, the reversionary TRIS could only be paid to a reversionary beneficiary who satisfied the condition of release. Otherwise, the reversionary TRIS would cease to be in the retirement phase.
This has now been fixed with the passing of Treasury Laws Amendment (2018 Measures No. 4) Bill 2018, so the transition to retirement income streams can be paid to a reversionary beneficiary, irrespective of whether they have satisfied a condition of release.
Allowing a TRIS to revert in all cases will automatically simplify administrative processes for superannuation funds. It will also make it easier for superannuation members.
