C04/2012 March 2012 Global Refresh of Managed Investments, Shares and Overseas Exchange rates - Letter Production and Mailouts

DATE OF ISSUE:  23 February 2012

March 2012 Global Refresh of Managed Investments, Shares and Overseas Exchange rates – Letter Production and Mailouts

Amends DI No.	N/A
Replaces DI No.	N/A

Purpose of Instruction

This Departmental Instruction is to provide you with information about the processing arrangements for the March 2012 Global Refresh of Managed Investments (MIs) and Shares (SHs) advice letter production and mailout.

Overview

Introduction

Each quarter the Department varies pensions and allowances in accordance with provisions contained in the Veterans' Entitlements Act 1986 (Statutory Increase or 'SI').  In March and September of each year, the movements in the Cost of Living Index and the Global Refresh of Managed Investments (MIs) and Shares (SHs) data are usually combined as one quarterly reassess — ment process. This quarter the Department will be sending advice letters to those pensioners on less than the maximum rate of service pension (SP), income support supplement (ISS) or age pension (AP) who have MIs and/or SHs recorded in their assessment and who are affected by the Global Refresh of MIs and/or SHs reassessment. Advice letters will also be sent to some AP recipients who are eligible to commence payment of D — efence F — orce I — ncome S — upport A — llowance (DFISA), or whose DFISA payment is cancelle — d following the processing run. AP recipients whose DFISA payment has increased or reduced will only receive an advice following the SI and Global Refresh processing if they have MIs and/or SHs in their assessment. This Departmental Instruction provides information about the advice letter production and mailout for both processing exercise and advises of any significant issues relating to the mailout.

Significant Issues

Issues of significance with regard to this mailout are as follows: The asset value of MI and SH data will be reassessed, except for clients in bereavement period; An advice will only be produced if: there is MI and/or SH in the assessment; and the income support pension is payable at less than the maximum rate (or if it changed from less than maximum to maximum rate because of the reassessment); Other conditions that may generate an advice include: when there is a change to treatment entitlement, regardless of whether the client has any MI and/or SH in the assessment; or when a DFISA payment is granted or cancelled, regardless of whether there is any MI and/or SH in the assessment; or pension has been reduced to nil after reassessment; Due to the implementation of the Provision of Tax Information and Clean Energy Payment projects, the automatic processing for the Global Refresh exercise and the lodgement of Advice Letters will be earlier this year. Lodgement of Advices with Australia Post will be staggered to commence on Thurs — day 15 March and completed by COB Fri — day 16 March 2012. The following changes will also be implemented during the March 2012 SI. Automatic DPS advice letters Client name and address will be changed from block letters to mixed case in the address block, salutation and body of letter. When referring to the deceased partner, the term “partner” will be replaced by “husband” or “wife” as applicable, in accordance with the surviving partner's relationship to the deceased. The terms “bereavement period” and “War Widow(er's) Pension” will be replaced. The information regarding halving the income and assets will be re-phrased. Automatic Lump Sum Advance advice letters The term “your pension payment account” will be replaced with “your nominated account”.

Letter Content – March 2012 Global Refresh of MIs and/or SHs Mailout

Advice Letter Target Audience	A letter will be produced for the following clients following the March 2012 Global Refresh of MIs and/or SHs processing: All less than maximum rate SP/ISS/AP recipients including those in receipt of DFISA, who have MIs and/or SHs recorded in their assessment; Maximum rate SP/ISS/AP recipients who have MIs and/or SHs in their assessment who move to less than the maximum rate as a result of the reassessment; Less than maximum rate SP/ISS/AP recipients who have MIs and/or SHs in their assessment and who move to the maximum rate as a result of the reassessment; SP/ISS/AP recipients who have MIs and/or SHs in their assessment and are reduced to nil as a result o — f the reassessment; Clients who have MIs and/or SHs in their assessment and are paid War Widows Pension and Rent Assistance (RA) but whose income support supplement or service pension is paid at the nil rate will receive an advice letter advising them if their RA has varied; All AP recipients who commence payment of DFISA, or whose DFISA payment is cancelled will receive an advice letter, regardless of whether they have MIs and/or SHs in their assessment; and Treatment changes as a result of the Statutory Increase (SI) or global refresh of MIs and/or SHs reassessment.
Introductory Paragraphs for SP/ISS/AP Client's Advices	AP clients in receipt of DFISA will have 'multiple outcome' paragraphs printing as part of their introductory paragraphs – advising them of a variation to their AP payment and DFISA payment. All AP/SP/ISS client letters will have either the single or multiple outcome introductory paragraphs printing, advising them of the outcome of their payments, as follows: Multiple Outcome Paragraphs: This is to advise you that your: age pension has been increased/reduced/reduced to nil. Defence Force Income Support Allowance (DFISA) has varied/reduced to nil. rent assistance has been granted/increased/reduced/cancelled. This change will take effect from 20 March 2012. Single Outcome Paragraph: This is to advise you that your service pension has been increased/reduced/reduced to nil.  This change will take effect from 20 March 2012.
Financial Assets Reassess-ment	The asset value of MI and/or SH data will be reassessed as part of this process.  Clients with MI and/or SH data recorded in their assessment will receive a paragraph advising them of the 'Change to Value of Shares and/or Managed Investments'. This paragraph advises clients about the reassessment program and explains that: 'The asset value of your shares which are listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and/or unit based managed investments has been reassessed.  The adjusted value of these investments has been used to work out your pension payment and has resulted in a variation to the amount of pension paid to you....' OR 'has resulted in your pension being varied to nil....'
Managed Investments and/or Shares Information Attachment	All less than maximum rate income support recipients with MIs and/or SHs recorded in their assessment will receive a full listing of all their MIs and/or SHs regardless of which MIs and/or SHs have been reassessed. Clients will not be issued with a listing of their Full Income and Assets.
Change to Pension due to Indexation Increases	All letters will continue to have the paragraph advising that 'Your pension has been adjusted in line with increases in the cost of living or wages where applicable.' Information on indexation adjustments and pension increase will also be provi — ded in the March edition of Vetaffairs, which is to be distributed from Tuesday, 3 April 2012.
Obligations	Full and Partial obligations are to be suppressed for all letters produced.  Reference will be made to obligations issued to clients in previous letters and in the case of SP and ISS recipients, reference will also be made to obligations provided in the 'You and Your Pension' Booklet. The Financial Obligations paragraph (including the Prescribed Rates), will be present in the advice for all clients, except for pens — ioners who are reduced to nil. AP clients who are reduced to nil, but eligible for payment of DFISA will receive their Financial Obligations paragraph in — cluding their prescribed rates.
Right of Review	A right of review paragraph will be present in all letters.
Treatment Advices to be Checked	T — he Enclosure (treatment) advice letters will be printed at the nomin — ated printer at each location. It is suggested that these letters be checked for accuracy, and reconciled against the reports received in each location to ensure they reflect the correct treatment paragraphs.  It should be noted that not all clients who have an advice produced due to a treatment change will have MIs and/or SHs in their assessment.  Clients who do not have MIs and/or SHs in the assessment will not have MIs and/or SHs related paragraphs printing in their advice.
Tasmanian Overseas Clients' Advices	Advice letters for Tasmanian Office clients with an overseas postal address will have their advices printed and posted directly from the Mailing House.
No Advices for Blind Clients	Blind clients will not receive an advice.  Where a member of a couple is assessed as 'blind' - a single advice will be produced for the non-blind member who may be affected by the processing. An exception to this rule is where a Blind client with MIs and/or SHs in their assessment is also in payment RA, which is subject to the income and assets tests and as such, may result in a variation to their RA payment.  Where there is a variation to the RA payment for these clients, an advice will be produced.
General Information Sheet	The General Information Sheet (GIS) will not be produced as part of each client's letter for the March processing. For information, the GIS will only be produced in the following circumstances: as part of the annual end of financial year (June) mailout as part of an income support pension new grant advice as part of a daily advice when a client is switched over from transitional to non-transitional assessment Pensioners who reside overseas permanently will not be given the GIS to avoid confusion, because some components of the pension supplement listed (PS non-taxable and PS flexible) are not payable to overseas pensioners.
Single & Joint Addressed Letters	All service pension and income support supplement recipient couples will receive a joint advice, provided the pe — nsioner addresses are identical.  The batch address defaults determining single and joint advices have been aligned with the PIPS PC daily advice defaults.   Where both members of a couple have the sam — e postal address recorded, a joint advice will be produced.  T — his includes illness separated couples. Important to note: Staff are reminded when granting Age Pension or when clients in a joint assessment request separate or single advices, they need to update this information using the mainframe PRODIMS - Client Correspondence Client Options (CO.CO) Screen - prior to the processing run to initiate the client request.  The advice default requests set in CO.CO will override the DOCGEN and PIPS advice rules. Age pensioner couples will receive separate letters - providing the advice default request has been set in CO.CO.

Production of Advice Letters

SI Processing	SI Processing will commence on Friday night, 09 March 2012, following the completion of the IPS FORT processing, and will run through until Sunday 11 March 2012.
Critical Dates

Processing within DVA (includes 'advices' processing)	Friday (9 pm) 9 March 2012 – Sunday 11 March 2012
Transmission of Production Data to Mailing House	Monday 12 March 2012
Mailing House to commence printing Advice Letters	Monday, 12 March 2012
Mailing House to commence lodgement of Advice Letters with Australia Post	Thursday, 15 March 2012
Mailing House to complete lodgment of all  Advice Letters with Australia Post by COB	Fri — day, 16 March 2012

Expected Client Numbers	The number of letters to be sent nationally is approximately 28,000 based on September 2011 mailout statistics (the last comparable exercise).  For reference, the number of mailpacks generated for each location in the September 2011 mailout are listed below: STATENUMBER OF ADVICE LETTERS NSW (and ACT)8,593 VIC — 6,527 QLD — 6,402 SA — 2,492 WA — 2,590 TAS  947 TAS (overseas)    61 TOTAL   27,612
Printing of Letters	Computershare located in Ermington NSW will print, fold, insert and lodge the advice letters.
National Lodgement of Letters	Letters will be lodged nationally with Australia Post on Thursday 15 March and be completed on Fri — day 16 March 2012. A representative from the Cards and Advices Team will notify and confirm all lodgment details. The Income Support contact officers for this exercise will be given progress reports and advised of any changes to this timetable.
DFISA Advices from Centrelink Processing	DVA will be suppressing all Centrelink daily DFISA variation advi — ces with an effective date of 05 March 2012, which are transmitted to DVA following the Centrelink processing run.  All other advices will print as part of the normal processing, including Centrelink DFISA cancellation and grant advices.
Foreign Pension Refresh Program known as GROOVER	The foreign pension refresh program referred to as 'GROOVER' (Global Refresh Of Overseas Exchange Rates) is a separate processing exercise to the March 2012 Global Refresh processing and is scheduled to run on the evening of Wednesday, 14 March 2012. The effective date of the Foreign Pensions Refresh Run is 20 March 2012 for payday 5 April 2012. Separate Foreign Income advices are produced for clients who have foreign income, and whose pensions have been varied because of the GROOVER run. Please note that British Social Security Pension (type 08), British Official Public Service/Forces pension (type 09) and British Other Income (type 07) are not included in the GROOVER update.  Instead they are regularly updated in British Pensions exchange rate variation exercises (commonly known as BRI runs) whenever the pound Sterling exchange rate varies by more than 2.5%. GROOVER advices will be sent to the mailing house for printing and mail processing.  These advices are scheduled to be lodged with Australia Post on Tuesday 20 March 2012. A small number of streamed advices will be printed at nominated printers (see item below) at each location.  These letters should be checked for accuracy, reconciled against the advice schedule reports, and held pending notification of the successful lodgement of the March quarterly advices.  This will ensure that pensioners receive their advice letters in chronological order.

Issues Requiring Staff Action

Streamed Advices	Several categories of advices are streamed out to print at State office printers, as they require additional checking and manual actions. The following advice types are streamed: Enclosure (treatment eligibility or student child change); Overseas postal address (except Tasmanian clients); R — eduction to nil They are to be printed at state office printers listed below: SA — S116P TAS — T005P WA — W010P VIC — V005P NSW — N607P QLD — Q402P These advices, in particular treatment eligibility change ones, should be checked for accuracy, and reconciled against the reports received by each Office. Reduction to Nil advice letters also require inclu — sion of Commonwealth Seniors Health Card (CSHC) claim form — s, CSHC fact sheet — s and reply paid envelope — s to the mailpacks.
ZIP Files of Advice Schedule Reports	A Zip File listing details of all clients who receive an advice will be emailed to the Contact Officers following the processing run.  The Zip File replaces the Advices Schedule Report, which is too large to print on the printers in each office.
Reprints of Advices Available using VIEW – Advices Tab	Reprints of individual advice letters produced from the quarterly processing can be requested via VIEW – Advices Tab reprint facility.  Quarterly advice reprints are available and can be requested from day one of the next quarter ie., March quarterly advices from 01/04/yyyy, June quarterly advices from 01/07/yyyy and March quarterly advices from 01/10/yyyy.
'HELD' Advices to be Forced	As part of the Batch processing run any advices in 'Held' status will be forced to print.  Forced held advices will print at each respective Office's nominated printer as part of the production processing. Please ensure your designated printer is fully operational during the processing period.  These advices will need to be checked to ensure the information in them is correct prior to posting.
Holding of daily advice letters	Daily advice letters produced after the processing run on 10 – 11 March 2012 should be held pending notification that the March 2012 quarterly letters have been dispatched.  This will ensure that pensioners receive their advice letters in chronological order.

Income Support Contact Officers

Income Support  Contact Officers	A contact person from each State is required to act as a liaison point for the Cards and Advices Team and is to be the responsible person for distributing any information regarding the March 2012 Global Refresh mailout to staff. The Income Support (IS) contacts for the March 2012 quarterly processing exercise are listed below: NSW:Genia Sacharczuk VIC:Arthur Morihovitis QLD:Steph — e — n Hamill SA:Maria Nasilowski WA:Michelle Pauly / Margarete Mumme TAS:Bryon Kelly
Feedback from Staff	Any concerns regarding letters produced as part of this run should be directed to Elis Lam of the Cards and Advices team.  Please forward y — our feedback to Elis, stating the nature of the query together with any relevant information.  Every effort will be made to develop solutions to address any concerns raised.  Please ensure that problems are reported as early as possible.
Cards & Advices Team Contact Details	Any queries regarding this mailout should be referred to: Elis Lam (02) 9213 7 — 244 or speed dial 27 — 244 Elis.Lam@dva.gov.au

John Sadeik

National Manager

Income Support

23 February 2012

Mock-ups of Letters to be Produced

Letter Content	Prior to the issue of this Departmental Instruction, comments were sought from staff regarding the advice content and paragraph sequencing. Feedback was received from two staff requesting modifications in the wording for the current description of "combined gross income" in the standard Financial Obligations paragraph. As any piecemeal changes could lead to inconsistencies in the auto advice letters, standard letters and other departmental publications such as the You and Your Pension booklet, the suggested change to the Obligations paragraph will be considered when a review of the Obligations in all departmental publications is undertaken.
Advice Samples	Details of the proposed content of the letters are included in Attachment A. Example 1A: SP Increase, remaining on Less than Maximum R — ate, with MIs/SHs in assessment. Example 2A: ISS Increase, remaining on Less than Maximum R — ate, with MIs/SHs in assessment and RA in payment. Example 3A: SP Reduction to Nil, with MIs/SHs in assessment and RA cancelled. Example 4A: Age Pension Increase, DFISA varied, with MIs/SHs in assessment.
Letter Variables	Please note, in the enclosed examples: Letterhead, DC name and signature block will change according to State. The words “service pension”, “age pension” and “income support supplement” each represent variables which will appear for those clients in receipt of the applicable pension. The introductory paragraphs will advise clients of the outcome of their re-assessment, being either 'increased', 'reduced' or 'reduced to nil'. Variables such as 'increased', 'reduced', 'granted', 'commenced' or 'cancelled' may be used when referring to Income Support allowance outcomes.

ATTACHMENT A

EXAMPLE 1A:

• OVERALL INCREASE – EITHER FROM LESS THAN MAXIMUM RATE TO LESS THAN MAXIMUM RATE OR INCREASE FROM LESS THAN MAXIMUM RATE TO MAX RATE AMOUNT
• SINGLE OUTCOME
• MIs/SHs IN ASSESSMENT
• SERVICE PENSIONERS
• MARRIED ASSESSMENT
• INCOME TESTED

GPO Box 9998, Brisbane  QLD  4001

Contact:Brisbane Office

Telephone:Bank of Queensland Centre

259 Queen Street

Brisbane QLD 4000

123 456 789  044 — Postal Address:

JOHN SMITH — GPO Box 9998 Brisbane QLD 4001

MARY SMITH — Telephone:

29 MARGARET STREET — General inquiries: 133 254

IPSWICH  QLD   4010 — Non-Capital city callers: 1800 555 254

Facsimile: (07) 3223 8585

12 March 2012

YOUR FILE NUMBER IS QX123456

Dear Mr and Mrs SMITH,

This is to advise you that your service pension has been increased.  This change will take effect from 20 March 2012.

Payment Information

Details of your payments are provided in the Payment Information Attachment.

Change to Value of Shares and/or Managed Investments

The asset value of your shares which are listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and/or unit based managed investments has been reassessed.  The adjusted value of these investments has been used to work out your service pension payment and has resulted in an increase to the amount of service pension paid to you.  The value of other income and assets you may have has not been affected by this reassessment.

Please refer to the 'Shares and Managed Investments Information' Attachment included in this letter.  This Attachment details all of your shares and/or managed investments regardless of whether there has been a change to that share or managed investment.  It is important that you check that this list is a full and accurate statement of your shares and/or managed investments.

We have not provided you with a complete listing of any other income or assets you may have in your assessment, as they have not been changed in this assessment.  However, they continue to be used in assessing the amount of service pension you are paid.

Change to Pension due to cost of living or wages increases

Your pension has been adjusted in line with increases in the cost of  living or wages where applicable.

Financial Obligations

You need to tell us within 14 days (28 days if you are living overseas or receive remote area allowance) if your combined gross income from all sources is more than $XXXX.XX per fortnight or the value of your combined assets, apart from your home, is more than $XXXXXX.XX.

Other Obligations

We have explained your obligations to you in previous letters and the booklet 'You and Your Pension'.  These obligations still apply.

Changes You Have Already Told Us About

If you have told us recently about a change to your income and assets or your domestic situation, it may not have been processed before this letter was sent.  If this is the case, we will send you another letter providing details of your new pension assessment when that change has been finalised.  This normally takes no more than 4 weeks.

Your Right of Review

If you do not agree with this variation to your pension, you may apply to have it reviewed by a Review Officer at this office.  If you do decide to apply, you must do so within three months of being advised of this decision.  Such a request for review must be in writing, and must set out your reasons for seeking this review.

If you have any questions about matters concerning Income Support issues you should contact us on 1300 550 452 (Capital city callers) or 1800 550 452 (Non-Capital city callers).  For any other enquiries please contact the Department at the address or telephone number shown at the top of this letter.

Yours sincerely,

ALISON STANLEY

Deputy Commissioner

As Delegate of the Secretary and Repatriation Commission

PAYMENT INFORMATION ATTACHMENT

The Department calculates pension payments on a daily basis.  This means that your fortnightly pension payment is made up of 14 days of entitlement of pension.  Therefore, when there is a change to your circumstances on any particular day in the fortnight - your pension will be adjusted from that day.  For that reason your pension payment may be different for one or two paydays after a reassessment.

Payment for 05 April 2012VeteranPartner

Please Note:  If you have an overpayment or lump sum advance which is currently being recovered (by deductions from your fortnightly pension), the amount paid into your account may be less than the total fortnightly payment shown above.

SHARES AND MANAGED INVESTMENTS INFORMATION

(Information currently used to assess your pension)

You are receiving service pension at less than the maximum rate payable. (If client goes from LMAX rate to MAX rate, this sentence will read: 'You are receiving service pension at the maximum rate payable.)

You are currently paid under the income test.  The total of your assessed gross fortnightly income is $x,xxx.xx.  The total of all your assets (excluding any deductible assets) is $xxx,xxx.xx.

Information about your shares and managed investments is provided below.

The asset value of your shares which are listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and/or unit based managed investments have been automatically updated.

The asset values of any unlisted public company shares, overseas shares, options, rights and futures or account based managed investments you hold have not been updated.  You must tell us if the asset value of these investments has varied by $1,000 or more.

The information below sets out the values for the shares and/or managed investments in your current assessment.

Listed Securities and Unlisted Public Securities

Description	No. of Shares	Asset Amount
XXXXXX	X,XXX	$XX,XXX.XX
QQQQQQQQQQQQQ	XXX	$    X,XXX.XX

Managed Investments

Description	Units	Asset Amount
VVVVVVVVVV	XX	$XX.XX
CCCCCCCCCCCCC	XXX	$XX.XX

Note: Income from financial assets is deemed.

Important Information:  We have not provided you with a complete listing of any other income or assets you may have in your assessment, as they have not been changed in this assessment.  However, they continue to be used in assessing the amount of service pension you are paid.  If they have changed, please notify the Department immediately.

You need to tell us within 14 days (28 days if you are living overseas or receive remote area allowance) if the above list of your Shares and/or Managed Investments is incomplete or incorrect; or if the number of shares or units you hold has changed.  Please note that failure to advise of incorrect or missing information about your shares or managed investments, or about other income or asset changes, may lead to your pension being overpaid.  Such overpayments are recoverable.

EXAMPLE 2A:

• OVERALL INCREASE – REMAINING ON LESS THAN MAXIMUM RATE OF INCOME SUPPORT SUPPLEMENT WITH MIs/SHs IN ASSESSMENT
• INCOME SUPPORT SUPPLEMENT – SINGLE ADVICE
• MULTIPLE OUTCOMES
• RENT ASSISTANCE PAYABLE
• INCOME TESTED

GPO Box 9998, Brisbane  QLD  4001

Contact:Brisbane Office

Telephone: Bank of Queensland Centre

259 Queen Street

Brisbane QLD 4000

123 456 789  0 — 78 — Postal Address:

GERALDINE THOMPSON — GPO Box 9998 Brisbane QLD 4001

29 MARGARET STREET — Telephone:

IPSWICH  QLD  4010 — General inquiries: 133 254

Non-Capital city callers: 1800 555 254

Facsimile: (07) 32238585

12 March 2012

YOUR FILE NUMBER IS QX666666

Dear Mrs THOMPSON,

This is to advise you that your:

• Income support supplement has been increased.
• Rent assistance has been increased.

This change will take effect from 20 March 2012.

Payment Information

Details of your payments are provided in the Payment Information Attachment.

Change to Value of Shares and/or Managed Investments

The asset value of your shares which are listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and/or unit based managed investments has been reassessed.  The adjusted value of these investments has been used to work out your income support supplement payment and has resulted in an increase to the amount of income support supplement paid to you.  The value of other income and assets you may have has not been affected by this reassessment.

Please refer to the 'Shares and Managed Investments Information' Attachment included in this letter.  This Attachment details all of your shares and/or managed investments regardless of whether there has been a change to that share or managed investment.  It is important that you check that this list is a full and accurate statement of your shares and/or managed investments.

We have not provided you with a complete listing of any other income or assets you may have in your assessment, as they have not been changed in this assessment.  However, they continue to be used in assessing the amount of income support supplement you are paid.

Change to Pension due to cost of living or wages increases

Your pension has been adjusted in line with increases in the cost of living or wages where applicable.

Financial Obligations

You need to tell us within 14 days (28 days if you are living overseas or receive remote area allowance) if your gross income is more than $XXXX.XX per fortnight or the value of your assets, apart from your home, is more than $XXXXXX.XX.

Other Obligations

We have explained your obligations to you in previous letters and the booklet 'You and Your Pension'.  These obligations still apply.

Changes You Have Already Told Us About

If you have told us recently about a change to your income and assets or your domestic situation, it may not have been processed before this letter was sent.  If this is the case, we will send you another letter providing details of your new pension assessment when that change has been finalised.  This normally takes no more than 4 weeks.

Your Right of Review

If you do not agree with this variation to your pension, you may apply to have it reviewed by a Review Officer at this office.  If you do decide to apply, you must do so within three months of being advised of this decision.  Such a request for review must be in writing, and must set out your reasons for seeking this review.

If you have any questions about matters concerning Income Support issues you should contact us on 1300 550 452 (Capital city callers) or 1800 550 452 (Non-Capital city callers).  For any other enquiries please contact the Department at the address or telephone number shown at the top of this letter.

Yours sincerely,

ALISON STANLEY

Deputy Commissioner

As Delegate of the Secretary and Repatriation Commission

ATTACHMENTS

• Payment Information Attachment – YES

• Shares and/or Managed Investments Information Attachment – YES

EXAMPLE 3A:

• SERVICE PENSION - REDUCTION TO NIL
• MIs/SHs IN ASSESSMENT
• RENT ASSISTANCE CANCELLED
• SINGLE ASSESSMENT
• MULTIPLE OUTCOMES

GPO Box 9998, Brisbane  QLD  4001

Contact:Brisbane Office

Telephone: Bank of Queensland Centre

259 Queen Street

Brisbane QLD 4000

123 456 789  112 — Postal Address:

WILLIAM TELL — GPO Box 9998 Brisbane QLD 4001

29 MARGARET STREET — Telephone:

IPSWICH  QLD  4010 — General inquiries: 133 254

Non-Capital city callers: 1800 555 254

Facsimile: (07) 32238585

12 March 2012

YOUR FILE NUMBER IS QX333444

Dear Mr TELL,

This is to advise you that your:

• service pension has been reduced to nil.

• rent assistance has been cancelled.

This change will take effect from 20 March 2012.

Payment Information

Details of your payments are provided in the Payment Information Attachment.

Change to Value of Shares and/or Managed Investments

The asset value of your shares which are listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and/or unit based managed investments has been reassessed.  The adjusted value of these investments has been used to work out your service pension payment and has resulted in your service pension being reduced to nil. The value of other income and assets you may have has not been affected by this reassessment.

Please refer to the 'Shares and Managed Investments Information' Attachment included in this letter.  This Attachment details all of your shares and/or managed investments regardless of whether there has been a change to that share and managed investment.  It is important that you check that this list is a full and accurate statement of your shares and/or managed investments.

We have not provided you with a complete listing of any other income or assets you may have in your assessment, as they have not been changed in this assessment.  However, they continue to be used in assessing the amount of service pension you are paid.

Change to Pension due to cost of living or wages increases

Your pension has been adjusted in line with increases in the cost of living or wages where applicable.

Pensioner Concession Card

As your service pension is no longer payable, you no longer qualify for fringe benefits from this Department.  Please destroy your existing Pensioner Concession Card as it is illegal for this card to be used after cancellation and use can be checked by electronic validation by some concession providers.

Your Right to Re-Apply

You may re-apply to have your service pension restored at any time if your income and/or assets fall below the limits that would allow for payment of the pension.

Changes You Have Already Told Us About

If you have told us recently about a change to your income and assets or your domestic situation, it may not have been processed before this letter was sent.  If this is the case, we will send you another letter providing details of your new pension assessment when that change has been finalised.  This normally takes no more than 4 weeks.

Your Right of Review

If you do not agree with this variation to your pension, you may apply to have it reviewed by a Review Officer at this office.  If you do decide to apply, you must do so within three months of being advised of this decision.  Such a request for review must be in writing, and must set out your reasons for seeking this review.

If you have any questions about matters concerning Income Support issues you should contact us on 1300 550 452 (Capital city callers) or 1800 550 452 (Non-Capital city callers).  For any other enquiries please contact the Department at the address or telephone number shown at the top of this letter.

Yours sincerely,

ALISON STANLEY

Deputy Commissioner

As Delegate of the Secretary and Repatriation Commission

ATTACHMENTS

• Payment Information Attachment – YES

• Shares and/or Managed Investments Information Attachment – YES
• General Information Sheet – YES – Reduced To Nil clients continue to receive the GIS.  The GIS is not produced for all other advice letters.

DFISA LETTERS

EXAMPLE 4A:

• AGE PENSION INCREASE (Less than Max Rate to Less than Max Rate or to Max Rate)
• INCOME TESTED
• MULTIPLE OUTCOMES
• DFISA VARIATION

• WITH MIs/SHs IN ASSESSMENT.

GPO Box 9998, Brisbane  QLD  4001

Contact:Brisbane Office

Telephone:Bank of Queensland Centre

259 Queen Street

Brisbane QLD 4000

123 456 789  0 — 22 — Postal Address:

PHILLIP JOHNSTON — GPO Box 9998 Brisbane QLD 4001

30 ELIZABETH STREET — Telephone:

TOOWOOMBA  QLD  4045 — General inquiries: 133 254

Non-Capital city callers: 1800 555 254

Facsimile: (07) 32238585

12 March 2012

YOUR FILE NUMBER IS QX123456

Dear Mr JOHNSTON,

This is to advise you that your:

• Age pension has been increased.
• Defence Force Income Support Allowance (DFISA) has varied.

This change will take effect from 20 March 2012.

Payment Information

Details of your payments are provided in the Payment Information Attachment.

Change to Value of Shares and/or Managed Investments

The asset value of your shares which are listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and/or unit based managed investments has been reassessed.  The adjusted value of these investments has been used to work out your age pension payment and has resulted in an increase to the amount of age pension paid to you.  The value of other income and assets you may have has not been affected by this reassessment.

Please refer to the 'Shares and Managed Investments Information' Attachment included in this letter.  This Attachment details all of your shares and/or managed investments regardless of whether there has been a change to that share or managed investment.  It is important that you check that this list is a full and accurate statement of your shares and/or managed investments.

We have not provided you with a complete listing of any other income or assets you may have in your assessment, as they have not been changed in this assessment.  However, they continue to be used in assessing the amount of age pension you are paid.

Change to Pension due to cost of living or wages increases

Your pension has been adjusted in line with increases in the cost of  living or wages where applicable.

Financial Obligations

You need to tell us within 14 days (28 days if you are living overseas) if your combined gross income from all sources is more than $XXXX.XX per fortnight or the value of your combined assets, apart from your home, is more than $XXXXXX.XX.

Other Obligations

We have explained your obligations to you in previous letters.  These obligations still apply.

Changes You Have Already Told Us About

If you have told us recently about a change to your income and assets or your domestic situation, it may not have been processed before this letter was sent.  If this is the case, we will send you another letter providing details of your new pension assessment when that change has been finalised.  This normally takes no more than 4 weeks.

Your Right of Review

If you do not agree with this decision, you can contact your nearest Veterans' Affairs office and discuss the reasons for the decision.  If you remain dissatisfied, you may apply to have the decision reviewed by an Authorised Review Officer, with no prior involvement in the case.  If you decide to apply for a review more than 13 weeks from the day this notice is given to you, arrears can only be paid from the date we receive your application.  Requests for review may be made in person, by telephone or writing.

The rate of DFISA paid to you is derived from your age pension assessment.  You may seek to have your age pension assessment reviewed if you are dissatisfied with your DFISA rate.

If you have any questions about matters concerning Income Support issues you should contact us on 1300 550 452 (Capital city callers) or 1800 550 452 (Non-Capital city callers).  For any other enquiries please contact the Department at the address or telephone number shown at the top of this letter.

Yours sincerely,

ALISON STANLEY

Deputy Commissioner

As Delegate of the Secretary

PAYMENT INFORMATION ATTACHMENT

The Department now calculates pension payments on a daily basis.  This means that your fortnightly pension payment is made up of 14 days of entitlement of pension.  Therefore, when there is a change to your circumstances on any particular day in the fortnight - your pension will be adjusted from that day.  For that reason your pension payment may be different for one or two paydays after a reassessment.

Payment for 05 April 2012Veteran

Please Note: If you have an overpayment or lump sum advance which is currently being recovered (by deductions from your fortnightly pension), the amount paid into your account may be less than the total fortnightly payment shown above.

SHARES AND MANAGED INVESTMENTS INFORMATION

(Information currently used to assess your pension)

You are receiving age pension at less than the maximum rate payable.

You are currently paid under the income test.  The total of your assessed gross fortnightly income is $x,xxx.xx.  The total of all your assets (excluding any deductible assets) is $xxx,xxx.xx.

Information about your shares and managed investments is provided below.

The asset value of your shares which are listed on the Australian Stock Exchange and/or unit based managed investments have been automatically updated.

The asset values of any unlisted public company shares, overseas shares, options, rights and futures or account based managed investments you hold have not been updated.  You must tell us if the asset value of these investments has varied by $1,000 or more.

The information below sets out the values for the shares and/or managed investments in your current assessment.

Listed Securities and Unlisted Public Securities

Description	No. of Shares	Asset Amount
XXXXXX	X,XXX	$XX,XXX.XX
QQQQQQQQQQQQQ	XXX	$    X,XXX.XX

Managed Investments

Description	Units	Asset Amount
VVVVVVVVVV	XX	$XX.XX
CCCCCCCCCCCCC	XXX	$XX.XX

Note: Income from financial assets is deemed.

Important Information:  We have not provided you with a complete listing of any other income or assets you may have in your assessment, as they have not been changed in this assessment.  However, they continue to be used in assessing the amount of age pension you are paid.  If they have changed, please notify the Department immediately.

You need to tell us within 14 days (28 days if you are living overseas) if the above list of your Shares and/or Managed Investments is incomplete or incorrect; or if the number of shares or units you hold has changed. Please note that failure to advise of incorrect or missing information about your shares or managed investments, or about other income or asset changes, may lead to your