C11/2002 VALA (Further Budget 2000 and Other Measures) Act 2002

Purpose

The purpose of this Departmental Instruction is to advise you that the Veterans' Affairs Legislation Amendment (Further Budget 2000 and Other Measures) 2002 Act no. 11 was given Royal Assent on 4 April 2002 and has become law.

Measures contained in the Act

This legislation contains changes to:

• Part IIIC compensation recovery rules;
• Returns from unrealisable assets;
• ATO small superannuation accounts;
• Income streams; and
• Rounding off measures to align with the Social Security Act 1991.

Effective dates

Implementation Dates:

• Small superannuation accounts – 1 July 1995; and
• all other amendments – 20 September 2001
  (primarily to align with similar changes to the Social Security Act 1991).

Compensation Recovery - 59Q

Departmental Instruction C10/2002, issued on 10 April 2002, advised that the method of calculation of the preclusion period for payment of benefits, as set out in sub-section 59Q(8) of the VEA, contained an error.  This DI advised staff who were involved in determining benefit preclusion periods to use the correct formula in sub-section 59Q(7)(a).

The incorrect formula in sub-section 59Q(8) has now been deleted from the VEA, following the granting of Royal Assent to the VALA (Further Budget 2000 and Other Measures) Act 2002.  This correction will shortly appear in electronic versions of the VEA (such as through Scaleplus), but will not appear in paper versions until the next reprint.  Staff relying on printed versions of the VEA should remain aware of the error within sub-section 59Q(8).

Further information

Detailed Departmental Instructions on the other measures covered by this bill and associated procedural changes except align rounding will be issued shortly.

Align Rounding

Refer Stateline Align Rounding sent 13 September 2001.

Contact

The contact officer for this project is Ian Williams (02) 6289 6382.