These FAQs relate to the Australian Retirement Trust Adviser Registration Terms and Conditions. Terms like Advice Fees, Advice Fee Form and Advice Fee Policy are defined in our Adviser Registration Terms and Conditions, so please refer to them for full definitions.
Members can request that an advice fee be paid from their Australian Retirement Trust account to their financial adviser for superannuation advice services that meet the sole purpose test requirements of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) (SIS) Act 1993.
This is available for members who receive personal advice from financial advisers that are registered with Australian Retirement Trust.
Payment of an advice fee from a member’s account is at Australian Retirement Trust’s discretion. These FAQs set out some of the principles where Australian Retirement Trust may exercise the discretion to pay an advice fee from a member’s account.
Payment of advice fees is subject to the Adviser Registration Terms and Conditions.
Contents
- Available advice fee types and definitions
- Advice fee caps
- Sole Purpose Test and apportionment of advice fees
- Conditions and rules of advice fee payments
- Monthly advice fee arrangements
- Australian Retirement Trust advice fee reviews
- Other information
- Further questions
Available advice fee types and definitions
What advice fee consent forms does Australian Retirement Trust accept?
Australian Retirement Trust will accept the following advice fee consent forms:
- Australian Retirement Trust Advice Fee Request Form
- Australian Retirement Trust Ongoing Advice Fee Renewal Form
- Third party Australian Financial Services (AFS) Licensee advice fee consent forms, where Australian Retirement Trust’s Advice Fee Consent Addendum is also completed and provided to Australian Retirement Trust.
When am I required to complete the Advice Fee Consent Addendum and why?
When you submit a Third Party AFS Licensee advice fee consent form we require completion of an Advice Fee Consent Addendum. This provides us with firstly, your consent and your client’s consent, to our product rules as they relate to advice fees, and also your consent for you to provide Australian Retirement Trust with advice documentation required as part of an Advice Fee review. For more information on Advice Fee reviews, refer to the ‘Australian Retirement Trust Advice Fee reviews’ section below.
What types of advice fees are available?
The following advice fees are available:
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One-off advice fees |
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Advice fee type |
Definition |
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One-off advice fee |
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Lump sum fixed term advice fee |
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Review advice fee |
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Monthly advice fees (only available within the Super Savings offering) |
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Advice fee type |
Definition |
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Ongoing advice fee |
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Fixed term advice fee |
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How advice fees are paid
How does Australian Retirement Trust pay an advice fee?
Australian Retirement Trust pays the advice fee agreed by a member, as set out in an Advice Fee Form by debiting the full advice fee from the member’s account.
How do I submit an Advice fee request?
For Super Savings members, Advice Fee Forms are to be submitted within Adviser Online.
For QSuper members, Advice Fee Forms are to be provided to Australian Retirement Trust by emailing the completed form to advisers@qsuper.qld.gov.au.
If you are using your own advice fee consent form, Australian Retirement Trust require our Advice Fee Consent Addendum to be submitted along with your advice fee consent form.
Who receives the payment?
Advice Fees are paid to the fee recipient, which is the financial adviser’s AFS Licensee. Australian Retirement Trust will provide the AFS Licensee with an Advice Fee Recipient Statement for the GST inclusive amount of the Advice Fee.
If the AFS Licensee does not hold an ABN, at Australian Retirement Trust’s discretion the Advice Fee may be paid to a related entity (i.e. a Trust owned by the AFS Licensee) if Australian Retirement Trust has been adequately directed by the AFS Licensee.
When are advice fees paid?
For Super Savings members, Advice Fees are paid to the AFS Licensee on the 16th of the month, or as soon as possible thereafter (with Advice Fees being paid from a member’s account on the 15th of the month, or as soon as possible thereafter).
For Super Savings, to ensure your Advice Fee Form is processed in time for the monthly payment run, we recommend submitting your Advice Fee Form at least 7 business days prior to the 15th of the month.
For QSuper members, Advice Fees are paid fortnightly on a Tuesday, or as soon as possible thereafter, to the AFS Licensee.
Advice fee caps
Advice fee caps are applied across the total of all Advice Fees paid from a member’s account/s, within the same product offering (i.e. Super Savings or QSuper); separate caps do not apply for different types of Advice Fees.
Maximum fee caps
- Members can authorise an Advice Fee up to 2.5% p.a. of their account balance, within the same product offering capped at $8,800 p.a. (including GST).
- This cap will be applied for a rolling 12-month period and is applied to the sum of all Advice Fees paid associated with:
- Preparation of advice
- Implementation of advice
- Services fees (fixed term or ongoing services agreements)
- Annual reviews; and
- Ad hoc advice.
- Where there is a new advice relationship between the member and financial adviser, an extra $1,500 (including GST) Advice Fee is available to contribute to the cost of initial advice. This Advice Fee only applies in the first year where the new advice relationship is entered into.
- Note: a new advice relationship applies where the member has not received advice from a particular financial adviser or advice practice previously.
| Year 1 | Maximum of 2.5% p.a., capped at $8,800 + $1,500 |
| Year 2 | Maximum of 2.5% p.a., capped at $8,800 |
| Year 3 | Maximum of 2.5% p.a., capped at $8,800 |
Minimum balance requirements
- A member must hold a current account balance, across all accounts, within the same product offering of $25,000 or more at the time the Advice Fee form is processed.
- An advice fee payment won’t be made by Australian Retirement Trust where the account from which the advice fee is to be paid is below $6,000 or would be below $6,000 after the advice fee is paid.
Sole purpose test and apportionment of advice fees
Advice fees are required to be apportioned between advice services that can and cannot be paid for in accordance with the sole purpose test. The amount of the Advice Fee for which payment is to be claimed from Australian Retirement Trust must be reasonable and the financial adviser must be able to support the apportionment if Australian Retirement Trust reasonably requests further information.
What advice services can be paid for through a member’s Australian Retirement Trust account?
The advice services provided must have a direct, reasonable, and transparent connection to the member’s interest in Australian Retirement Trust.
The Trustee of Australian Retirement Trust (the Trustee) has agreed that the following advice strategies fall within the sole purpose test:
- Australian Retirement Trust contributions (including as a result of cash flow analysis to determine ability to contribute);
- Australian Retirement Trust investment strategy;
- Superannuation consolidation to Australian Retirement Trust;
- Australian Retirement Trust Transition to Retirement and Pension account establishment for income payments (noting this does not include advice on expenditure of income payments for non-superannuation purposes);
- Retirement planning as it relates to Australian Retirement Trust accounts;
- Recommendation to rollout from Australian Retirement Trust (noting this does not include personal advice recommendations regarding funds once rolled out);
- Estate planning to the extent of beneficiary nomination (death benefit nomination or reversionary pension nomination) within Australian Retirement Trust Accumulation and Pension accounts;
- Centrelink planning in relation to Australian Retirement Trust accounts;
- Insurance held within Australian Retirement Trust;
- Current and future fund benefits as they relate to disability or terminal illness claims and the resultant future income needs of the member; and
- Superannuation surcharge debt advice.
This is not an exhaustive list, but rather provides guidance around Australian Retirement Trust's obligations under the sole purpose test.
What advice services must be charged externally from a member’s Australian Retirement Trust account?
Where advice services do not have a direct, reasonable, and transparent connection to the member's interest in Australian Retirement Trust (for example, any product or financial advice that is not related to the member’s Australian Retirement Trust account), these advice services must not be charged to the member's Australian Retirement Trust account (i.e. by invoice or from the other product provider).
The following advice strategies must not be charged to a member's Australian Retirement Trust account:
- Withdrawing funds from the member/s account for a non-superannuation purpose (pre-retirement);
- Wealth creation outside of the member’s interest in Australian Retirement Trust;
- Gearing;
- Investment strategies outside super;
- External insurance advice, paid for by the Australian Retirement Trust member via personal cashflow or rollover from Australian Retirement Trust.
- Estate planning (except nomination of beneficiary within Australian Retirement Trust);
- Cash flow management applied to budgeting, debt management and other forms of non-super savings;
- Superannuation contributions to a Fund that is not Australian Retirement Trust, including choice of fund for any Superannuation Fund that is not the member’s Australian Retirement Trust Superannuation account;
- Debt management;
- Self-Managed Super Funds;
- Salary packaging (except salary sacrifice to Australian Retirement Trust); and
- Transactional assistance where a personal advice document is not provided.
This is not an exhaustive list, but rather provides guidance around Australian Retirement Trust’s obligations under the sole purpose test.
Do I need to apportion the Advice Fee between a member's different Australian Retirement Trust products and/or accounts?
As Australian Retirement Trust is held by one Trustee, the Trustee is comfortable that apportioning the Advice Fee to one of the member’s Australian Retirement Trust accounts (individual member number) or products (Accumulation, Corporate or Pension product) still meets their sole purpose test obligations and also maintains their Member’s Best Financial Interest duty (i.e. 'the collective best interest of all members of the fund') under the SIS Act.
Do I need to apportion the Advice Fee between a member's account in Australian Retirement Trust and one or more external funds?
If a member holds superannuation accounts with Australian Retirement Trust and an additional fund external to Australian Retirement Trust and advice is provided about both these funds, the fees charged will need to be apportioned between these various funds, ensuring that only advice relating to the member's interest in the Australian Retirement Trust fund is paid from the Australian Retirement Trust fund.
Conditions and rules of Advice Fee payments
Accounts and products that are ineligible for Advice Fee payments
Defined Benefit, Defined Benefit Pension products or Lifetime Pensions
For Super Savings members, Advice Fees cannot be paid where a member’s account includes a Defined Benefit, Defined Benefit Pension or Lifetime Pension. For clarity, Advice Fees cannot be paid from any account where the payment of the Advice Fee would otherwise alter the vested amount the member holds.
For QSuper members, Advice Fees can only be paid from a member's Accumulation, Transition to Retirement or Income account.
MySuper product
Australian Retirement Trust does not permit the payment of a Monthly Advice Fee, or a fee associated with an ongoing fee arrangement from our MySuper products.
The MySuper product available to members who have an account in the Super Savings product offering is the ‘Lifecycle Investment Strategy’. This means if the member has any portion of their portfolio invested in the Lifecycle Investment Strategy, Australian Retirement Trust will be unable to process the payment of a Monthly Advice Fee, or a fee associated with an ongoing advice fee arrangement.
The MySuper product available to QSuper members is the ‘QSuper Lifetime’ investment option.
Currently, Monthly Advice Fees (including ongoing advice fee arrangements) are not available from the QSuper product.
General rules
An Advice Fee applies only to the member identified in the Advice Fee form. Where a new Advice Fee form is submitted for any member and is accepted by Australian Retirement Trust, any Advice Fee form previously submitted for that member is superseded and replaced.
If payment of an Advice Fee would result in a member's account balance falling below $6,000, Advice Fees will continue to be paid if the member holds another account in the same product offering with sufficient balance. Advice Fees cannot be transferred between different product offerings without Australian Retirement Trust's receipt of express written consent by the member, in the form required by Australian Retirement Trust.
Australian Retirement Trust will not process and as a result, will terminate an Advice Fee where the payment of the Advice Fee will reduce the member’s total account balance in any one account below $6,000.
All of the following conditions need to be met immediately prior to the payment of any Advice Fee:
- The Advice Fee requested must not exceed the caps noted within this document and/or published on the Australian Retirement Trust website, and as amended from time to time.
- All required details in the Advice Fee Form are completed (including the member consenting to the Advice Fee being paid from their Australian Retirement Trust account).
- The financial adviser is registered with Australian Retirement Trust.
- The financial adviser holds a valid authority for the relevant member.
- The AFS Licensee holds a valid agreement with the Trustee.
- The financial adviser is listed as an active financial adviser on ASIC’s Financial Adviser Register and is currently authorised to provide superannuation financial product advice by the AFS Licensee specified on the Advice fee form.
- Personal advice with a relevant advice document has been provided to the Australian Retirement Trust member within the 12 months prior to submitting the Advice fee form.
- The adviser(s) listed on the Advice fee form must be from the same financial advice practice, as the adviser listed on the Statement of Advice and/or other personal advice/servicing documents provided to the member.
- Australian Retirement Trust has confirmed the validity of any details provided that are verifiable from Australian Retirement Trust’s records and ASIC records.
- Australian Retirement Trust may require further details to confirm fair and reasonable apportionment of the Advice Fee for the advice services provided. We will notify the financial adviser for more information if this is the case.
- Australian Retirement Trust may reasonably request and be provided a copy of the member's advice documents in relation to the advice fee. For clarity, this may be prior to payment, throughout the course of payment (i.e. Monthly Advice Fee) or after the payment of an Advice Fee.
Provision of personal advice
Australian Retirement Trust does not permit the payment of Advice Fees for general advice or transactional assistance and also requires that personal advice be provided within the 12-month period relating to the Advice Fee payment.
It is the legal obligation of the financial adviser and their AFS Licensee to ensure personal advice services have been provided by the financial adviser with the AFS Licensee for the Advice Fee charged.
Where Australian Retirement Trust cannot determine (acting reasonably) that personal advice has been fully provided to a member who is entitled to receive such advice, an Advice Fee Form may be declined or a refund of Advice Fees paid may be required.
Advice Fees and deceased members
Australian Retirement Trust views the death of a member during the duration of an Advice Fee agreement as a cessation of that agreement. Australian Retirement Trust will then terminate any advice fees following the notification of the death of a member.
If any Monthly Advice Fees were paid following the death of a member, a refund of such fees is required. Where a one-off/lump sum service Advice Fee was paid for a period beyond the date of death, a portion of the Advice Fee paid corresponding to services not received would need to be refunded.
Advice Fee forms - Important Dates
The tables below outline some of the requirements relating to the date(s) around signing and submitting Advice Fee forms.
Advice Fee Request Form (for One-off advice fee only)
| Signing date requirements | Submission date requirements |
| n/a | Adviser must submit the Advice Fee Request Form within 90 days of the member signing the form. |
Advice Fee Request Form (for Monthly fixed term or ongoing advice fee*)
| Signing date requirements | Submission date requirements |
| Member must sign the form within 90 days of the start date listed on the Advice Fee Request Form. | Adviser must submit the Advice Fee Request Form within 90 days of the member signing the form. |
* Only applicable to the relevant Super Savings product offering.
Ongoing Advice Fee Renewal Form*
| Signing date requirements | Submission date requirements |
| Member must sign the form within the period starting 60 days before the reference date, or up to 150 days after the reference date. | Adviser must submit the form no later than 150 days from the reference date. |
* Only applicable to the relevant Super Savings product offering.
Monthly Advice Fee arrangements
For Super Savings members only, Australian Retirement Trust’s Advice Fee Request Form includes fields requiring both a Monthly Advice Fee start and paid until date.
Fixed term Advice Fees
- You can elect for the Monthly Advice Fee payment start date to be up to 90 days in the future or 30 days prior to the date you generate the Advice Fee Request Form.
- The term of agreement entered into on our Advice Fee Request Form can be up to 12 months.
- Fixed term advice fee arrangements are not renewed, therefore once the arrangement period is complete, if the member is still receiving personal advice and services relating to their Australian Retirement Trust account for an upcoming period, a new Advice Fee Request Form is required.
- Australian Retirement Trust may make catch up payments (in a lump sum) or vary the payment amount to ensure outstanding amounts are paid, and that payments made throughout the arrangement align with and are in accordance with the terms of the services agreement between the adviser and the member.
Ongoing Advice Fees
- You can elect for the Monthly Advice Fee payment start date to be up to 90 days in the future or 30 days prior to the date you generate the Advice Fee Request Form.
- The Monthly Advice Fee paid until date for ongoing advice fees will be 12 months from the start date.
- An ongoing advice fee arrangement can be renewed during the renewal period (i.e. within the period of 60 days prior to the Reference Day and 150 days after the Reference Day), by completing the Ongoing Advice Fee Renewal Form.
- Australian Retirement Trust may make catch up payments (in a lump sum) or vary the payment amount to ensure outstanding amounts are paid, and that payments made throughout the arrangement align with and are in accordance with the terms of the services agreement between the adviser and the member.
- Payment of ongoing monthly advice fees will cease 12 months from the start date.
- If Australian Retirement Trust receives an Ongoing Advice Fee Renewal Form, that has been signed within the required period, Australian Retirement Trust will backpay (in one lump sum payment) any payments for that period in the next available monthly pay run.
- If Australian Retirement Trust does not receive an Ongoing Advice Fee Renewal Form, nothing further will be required from either the financial adviser or the member as the Advice Fee payments will have ceased at the Reference Day.
- If the ongoing advice fee isn’t renewed within the renewal period, and the member wishes to recommence their ongoing advice fee arrangement, then a new arrangement (new Advice Fee Request Form) will be required.
Australian Retirement Trust Advice Fee discretion
The facility to pay Advice Fees from a member’s account is at Australian Retirement Trust’s discretion (acting consistently with its duties as Trustee). Such payment is subject to relevant laws and obligations including Australian Retirement Trust’s sole purpose test obligations and Advice Fee Policy. Australian Retirement Trust also reserves the right to obtain a refund of Advice Fees paid from a member account where the payment of such Advice Fees has not met the relevant laws, obligations and requirements.
Australian Retirement Trust Advice Fee reviews
Australian Retirement Trust conducts periodic reviews of Advice Fees to ensure compliance with its Trustee duties. From time to time, we will reasonably require copies of advice documents (e.g. Statement of Advice) and/or other advice related documents (e.g. Ongoing Service Agreements, Client Service Agreements, evidence of fair and reasonable apportionment where applicable) for review. These reviews may be conducted prior to, during or after payment of the Advice Fee.
Australian Retirement Trust reviews the requested advice documents to ensure that where an Advice Fee is charged to an Australian Retirement Trust member’s account, it adheres to Australian Retirement Trust’s sole purpose test obligations and Advice Fee Policy.
In the event Australian Retirement Trust is not provided a copy of the requested advice documentation, in a timely manner, Australian Retirement Trust may be required to cancel the Advice Fee and/or request a refund of any Advice Fee payments that have been made.
Refer to 'Advice Fee Policy' in the Adviser Registration Terms and Conditions for more information.
Other information
What do I do if I change AFS Licensee? (for Super Savings only)
Australian Retirement Trust will pay advice fees (One-off and/or Monthly) to the AFS Licensee named on the Advice fee form, until we become aware that the financial adviser has changed AFS Licensee.
Upon becoming aware that the financial adviser has changed AFS Licensee, Australian Retirement Trust will not pay any further amounts until we receive notice from the appropriate AFS Licensee that the member is still receiving advice services.
Australian Retirement Trust must receive this notice in a written document (in the form required by Australian Retirement Trust) signed by the AFS Licensee confirming the variation of AFS Licensee (fee recipient).
Refer to 'Suspension or cancellation of the Services' in the Adviser Registration Terms and Conditions for more information.
For further information regarding Client Transfers visit our Client Transfer FAQs.
Further questions
If you have further advice fee enquiries that are not answered by the above FAQs, please contact us at advice_governance@art.com.au