C07/2002 MARCH 2002 GLOBAL REFRESH OF MANAGED INVESTMENTS (MI) AND SHARES (SH) MAILOUT

External

Departmental Instruction

DATE OF ISSUE: 12 MARCH 2002

MARCH 2002 GLOBAL REFRESH OF MANAGED INVESTMENTS (MI) AND SHARES (SH) MAILOUT

Purpose of Instruction

This Departmental Instruction is to provide information about processing arrangements for the March 2002 global refresh of Managed Investments and Shares advice letter mailout.

ROGER WINZENBERG

BRANCH HEAD

INCOME SUPPORT

11 — th March 2002

Overview

Introduction

In March and September of each year the Department varies certain pension and allowance rates and thresholds in line with movements in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and/or Male Total Average Weekly Earnings (MTAWE). Letters are usually only sent to those pensioners on less than maximum rate of income support pension who have managed investments (MIs) and/or shares (SHs) in their assessment. However, due to a change in the deemed interest rates we will now be writing to all pensioners on less than the maximum rate of income support pension.

This Departmental Instruction provides information about the mailout and advises of the significant issues relating to the exercise. Letters will be sent to pensioners affected by the events as set out in the following paragraph.

Significant Issues- of Managed Investment and Share Global Refresh Mailout

The March 2002 Quarterly mailout will incorporate the following events for payday 4 April 2002 (WEF 20 March 2002). Issues of significance with regard to this mailout are as follows:

Letters will be sent to all less than maximum rate income support recipients;
There will be a deeming rate change from 3% to 2.5% for amounts up to $33,400 ($55,800 per couple) and from 4.5% to 4% for amounts over $33,400 ($55,800 per couple);
The asset value of managed investment (MI) and share (SH) data will be reassessed;
A Managed Investment and/or Share Information Attachment will be provided for all less than maximum rate income support recipients who have MIs and/or SHs in their assessment. This Attachment will provide a full listing of the client's MIs and/or SHs regardless of what has been reassessed. (This strategy was successfully introduced for the September 2001 Global refresh exercise and was designed to reduce the volume of low outcome pension review work that traditionally increases following a quarterly mailout);
A 'Total Financial Assets' Table showing the value of a client's deemed income per fortnight will print in the body of the advice for all recipients; and
If a treatment change occurs as a result of the reassessment a letter will be produced.

Letter Content

Advice Letter Target Audience

A letter will be produced for the following clients:

All less than maximum rate service pensioners (SP), income support supplement recipients (ISS) and age pensioners (AP)
Max rate SP/ISS/AP recipients who move to less than max rate as a result of the reassessment
Less than max rate SP/ISS/AP recipients who move to max rate as a result of the reassessment
Reduction to nil cases as a result of the reassessment
Treatment changes as a result of the Statutory Increase (SI) or Global Refresh of Managed Investments and/or Shares reassessment.

Financial Assets Reassess-ment

The asset value of managed investment and/or share data will be reassessed as part of this process. Clients with MI and/or SH data in their assessment will receive a paragraph advising them of the ...Change to Value of Managed Investments and/or Shares...

CPI	There will be a brief reference made in the advice letters about the CPI increase after the 'Change to Value of Managed Investments and/or Shares' paragraph.

Male Total Average Weekly Earnings (MTAWE)

There will be a brief reference to MTAWE made in the advice letters after the 'Change to Value of Managed Investments and/or Shares' paragraph.

Advice on CPI and MTAWE variations will be included in the March edition of VetAffairs - VetAffairs distribution is to commence on Thursday, 21 March 2002 to be completed by Friday 29 March 2002.

Obligations suppressed

Obligations are to be suppressed for all letters produced. Reference will be made to previous obligations issued to clients and in the case of Service Pension and Income Support Supplement 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 (excluding Blinded pensioners and clients reduced to nil.)

Deeming Explanation Paragraphs

All letters will provide a deeming explanation paragraph and information on the new deeming rates. A Table showing the 'Total Financial Assets' held and the value of those assets will also be provided.

$1 Minimum Variation Rules

The $1min rules will be applied to all less than max rate SP and ISS variation cases ie., an increase or reduction must be equal to or greater than a $1 amount to receive an advice.

$1min rules do not apply to Age Pensioners.

Continuation Cases

Cases where the 'old rate' resulting from the Statutory Increase (SI) processing and the 'new rate' resulting from MI/SH refresh end up being the same amount after the reassessment will not have an advice produced.

Treatment Advices to be Checked

As is the procedure for quarterly processing all Special Register, Overseas and Enclosure (treatment changes) advice letters will be printed by IBM in Melbourne and sent via courier to each State Office. We always request that these be checked for accuracy, and reconciled against the reports received by each State Office.

There is a known problem with 'treatment entitlement' which is to be addressed but until resolved will require you to check enclosure advices. You will need to check the client's treatment entitlement to ensure they have received the correct treatment card information in their advice appropriate to their treatment eligibility.

Please be aware when checking treatment advices that there may be some produced for cases that go from Nil to Gold treatment card OR Gold to Gold treatment card - while an advice is produced for these cases, they may not have a treatment paragraph in the advice. The reason could be due to the client having a 'card stopped' status. The program, when filtering these type of cases, sees that the client does not have a 'card issued' (due to having a stoppage put on it - usually because of an incorrect address). The program then sees that the client is eligible for a gold card and as the card data is blank it selects the client as requiring a card, and a treatment change advice is generated.

These cases need to be investigated. To confirm whether the case has the 'card stopped' status you need to check the EC.CC screen - if the card has a 'card stopped' status you need to find out why and if appropriate lift the stoppage. Work will be undertaken in the coming months to exclude these cases from being selected inappropriately.

General Information Sheet

Each letter will contain a General Information Sheet (GIS). This will act as the consistent last page for gatemarking purposes at the mailing house. The GIS provides details of new rates and threshold information.

Single & Joint Letters

All Service Pensioners and Income Support Supplement recipient couples will receive a joint letter, provided the pensioner addresses are identical.

Age Pensioner couples will receive separate letters.

Production of Advice Letters

Processing

Processing is scheduled to run from Thursday evening 14 — th March until Monday evening 18 — th March 2002.

Critical Dates

Processing Weekend within DVA (includes 'advices' processing)	Thursday (pm), 14 — th March 2002 - Monday (pm), 18 — th March 2002
Dispatch Production Data to SMS	Tuesday, 19 — th March 2002
Commence printing Advice Letters	Wednesday, 20 — th March 2002
End Printing Advice Letters	Friday 22 — nd March 2002
Lodgement of Advice Letters with Australia Post	Friday 22 — nd March 2002

Please Note: Monday, 18 — th March 2002 is a Public Holiday in Canberra

Client Numbers

The following is a summary of client numbers in each State. The numbers are approximates only:

STATE	NO. OF LETTERS (Approx Only and includes Special Register, Overseas and Enclosures)
New South Wales	23,789
Victoria	17,678
Queensland	16,633
Western Australia	8,075
South Australia	6,919
Tasmania	3,139
TOTAL	75,233

Printing of Letters

Security Mailing Services (SMS) Sydney, will print, fold and insert advice letters in the week from Tuesday 19 — th March thru till Friday 22 — nd March 2002.

Lodgement of Letters

All letters will be lodged with Australia Post on Friday 22nd March 2002. A representative from National Office will notify details of lodgement for each State as they occur.

The State Office Contacts for this exercise will be given progress reports and advised of any changes to this timetable.

Issues Requiring State Office Action

Special Register, Overseas & Enclosures

Special Register, Overseas and Enclosure (treatment changes) advice letters will be printed by IBM in Melbourne and sent via courier to each State Office. These should be checked for accuracy, and reconciled against the reports received by each State Office. This arrangement is the same as for daily advice letters.

Each State Office will receive a report detailing the advice letters produced in each of these categories. We will advise SSOs in each State when to expect delivery of these letters, and it is essential that Systems Delivery is notified if they do not arrive. It is also necessary to advise Carol Walsh, Systems Delivery on (02) 6289 6729 if the delivered letters do not exactly match the reports.

Please note the reference to the section on 'Treatment Advices to be Checked' mentioned earlier in this Departmental Instruction. We request that all treatment advices be checked for accuracy prior to posting.

Reprints of selected letters

Any requests for reprints of individual Quarterly Advice letters should be referred to System Support Officers to organise a reprint.

'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 State 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 payment advice letters produced after the processing run of 14 - 18 March 2002, should be held pending notification that the quarterly letters have been dispatched. This will ensure that pensioner's receive their advice letters in chronological order.

$FORT run - Monday 25 March 2002

$FORT has been scheduled to run on Monday night 25 March 2002. Advices from this run should be held pending notification that the quarterly advice letters have been dispatched as with the daily advice letters.

State Office Contacts

State Office Point of Contact

A contact person from each State has previously been identified to act as a liaison point for the National Office Advice's Team and will be the responsible person for distributing any information regarding the global refresh and mailout to staff.

State Office Contacts for the March quarterly processing are:

NSW: Genia Sacharczuk - 02 9213 7106

VIC: David Price - 03 9284 6379

QLD: Steve Jensen - 07 3223 8835

SA: Graham Bate - 08 8290 0425

WA: Kim Gooding - 08 9366 8549/John Gliddon - 08 9366 8417

TAS: Chris Craven - 03 6221 6698

ACT: Martin McGlashan - 02 6289 1132

National Office Contacts

Feedback from State Offices

Any concerns regarding letters produced as part of this run should be directed to the National Office Contact Officer, Pat Webb. At the end of this process we will be collecting and collating all State feedback to analyse issues raised and develop solutions to address any concerns raised. Any problems noted should be reported to the National Office Contact Officer with the nature of the query and any relevant information pertaining to the query. Please ensure that problems are reported as early as possible.

Contacts

There will be one National Office contact for this mailout. Any queries regarding advice wording, data cartridges, mail house printing and letters lodgement should be referred to:

Pat Webb

(02) 6289 6444 (Phone)

(02) 6289 6553 (Fax)

Systems issues should be directed to:

Carol Walsh on (02) 6289 6729

Letter Mockups

Letters

Prior to the issue of this Departmental Instruction, the State Office Contact Officers for this exercise and Manager's Income Support were provided with copies of the proposed paragraph sequencing and mock-ups of advice letters for this run.

A number of recommendations were received and have been taken into consideration for the final version of paragraphs and sequencing. An email will be forwarded to the State Contact Officers advising of the changes in respect of all comments received.

Copies of the amended advice letters for this run are at Attachment A of this DI.

Attachment A – Paragraph sequencing and Advice Letter Examples

Example 1: Overall Decrease - either from Maximum Rate to less than Maximum Rate or decrease in Less than Max Rate Amount, Deeming rate change, Payment Attachment, MI/SH Information Attachment, General Information Sheet (GIS)

Example 2: Overall Decrease - wither from Maximum Rate to Less than Maximum Rate or Decrease of Less than Maximum Rate amount - WITHOUT Managed Investments and/or Shares in Assessment. Deeming Rate Change, Payment Attachment, and GIS

Example 3: Increase from Less than Maximum Rate to Maximum Rate, WITH MIs/SHs in assessment. Deeming Rate Change, Payment Attachment, MI/SH Information Attachment, and GIS

Example 4: Age Pension increase remaining on Less than Maximum Rate, Disability Pension in payment, WITHOUT MIs/SHs in assessment, Deeming Rate change, Payment Attachment, and GIS

Example 5: Reduction to Nil, with MI/SHs in assessment, Deeming Rate change, Payment Attachment, MI/SH Information Attachment, GIS

Letter Variables

Please note, in the following samples:

Letterhead, DC name and signature block will change according to State;
The words “service pension”, “age pension”, “income support supplement” each represent variables which will appear for those clients in receipt of the applicable pension.
State specific 'closing' paragraphs with the preferred contact telephone number for Income Support related issues will be used for this mailout.

ATTACHMENT A

PARAGRAPH SEQUENCING AND TARGET AUDIENCE

Note: Advices will be produced for all clients receiving a less than maximum rate income support payment. Clients WITH Managed Investments and/or Shares in their assessment WILL receive the following paragraphs:

Managed Investment and Share Information Attachment listing all MIs and/or SHs regardless of what has changed as a result of the reassessment.
Deeming rate explanation and change paras.
Financial Assets Table in body of advice showing the value of their deemed income per fortnight.

Clients WITHOUT MIs/SHs in their assessment WILL receive the following paragraphs:

Deeming rate explanation and change paras.
Financial Assets Table in the body of the advice showing the value of their deemed income per fortnight.

WILL NOT receive

Managed Investment and Share Information Attachment listing all MIs and/or SHs

Paragraph	To Whom
State specific letterhead	All
Opening (Introduction)	All
CPI & MTAWE adjustment para	All
Change to value of shares and managed investments - Decrease Increase Red to Nils	Only for those clients with Managed Investments and/or Shares in their assessment.
Effective Date	All
Payment Information	All
Payment Diversion Table	All
Deeming Explanation	All - if either Deeming rate or threshold change
Deeming Rate Change	All - if deeming rate change applicable
Total Financial Assets Table	All
Reduction to Nil para	Reduction to Nil cases
“You have been increased to the maximum rate of pension”	All increase to max rate cases
Your DP has been varied	Those with DP
Fringe Benefits -Destroy PCC	Reduction to Nil cases

Paragraph	To Whom
Your Right to Re-Apply -	Reduction to Nil cases
Treatment On/Off	Any cases where a change in treatment eligibility is detected (with or without MI/SHs in assessment)
Financial Obligations (incl Prescribed Rates)	All (not Reduction to Nil cases or Blinded clients)
Other Obligations (Partial Obs) (reference to previous)	All (not Reduction to Nil cases)
Changes You Have Already Told Us About	All
Your Right of Review	All
State specific closing paragraph and Signature	All
Payment Information Attachment	All
Managed Investment and/or Shares Information Attachment	Only clients with MIs/SHs in their assessment.
General Information Sheet	All

EXAMPLE 1: Overall Decrease - either from Maximum Rate to Less than Max Rate or Decrease of Less than Max Rate amount - WITH Managed Investments and/or Shares in Assessment, Deeming Rate change.

T-ADVICE-RETURN-ADDRESS _

Commonwealth Department of

Veterans' Affairs_

Contact:STATE OFFICE

Telephone:

AMP Place

10 Eagle Street

Brisbane Qld 4000

Postal Address:

GPO Box 651 Brisbane Qld 4001

Telephone:

General inquiries: 133 254

Non-metropolitan callers: 1800 555 254

Dialling from interstate: 1300 13 1945

Facsimile: (07) 32238585

T-ADVICE-PRINT-DATE

YOUR FILE NUMBER IS T-FILE-NUMBER

T-ADVICE-SALUTATION,

I am writing to you about your T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP payment from Veterans' Affairs

Your pension has been adjusted in line with movements in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Male Total Average Weekly Earnings (MTAWE). This has resulted in a change to the income amounts used to work out your rate of service pension.

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 T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP payment and has resulted in an overall decrease to the amount of T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP paid to you.

Please refer to the Managed Investments and Shares Information Attachment included in this letter. This Attachment details all your managed investments and/or shares regardless of whether there has been a change to that managed investment or share. We have not provided you with a complete listing of any other income or assets you may have in your assessment. However, they continue to be used in assessing the amount of T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP you are paid.

This change will take effect from T-CLNT-EFFECTIVE DATE.

Payment Information

Please refer to the enclosed Payment Information Attachment to see a breakdown of your payments.

The following table shows where your pension payments are going.

Date	Name	Payment Destination	Amount Deposited
T-PAYDIVER-DATE	T-PAYDIV-PAYEE	T-PAYDIV-PAYDEST	T-PAYDIV-AMOUNT

Deemed Interest Rate Change - Financial Assets

With effect from T-CLIENT-EFFECTIVE-DATE, the deemed interest rates will change. The new deemed income rates of 2.5% for amounts up to $33,400 ($55,800 per couple) and 4% for amounts over $33,400 ($55,800 per couple), will be used to work out income recorded for your financial assets.

This has resulted in a change to the income amounts used to work out your rate of service pension.

Total Financial Assets

FINANCIAL ASSETS VALUE	DEEMED INTEREST RATE	DEEMED INCOME PER FORTNIGHT
$XX,XXX.XX	2.5%	$XX.XX
$XX,XXX.XX	4%	$XXX.XX
$XX,XXX.XX		$XXX.XX

What is Deemed Income?

For pension purposes, income from financial assets such as accounts with banks, building societies and credit unions, loans, bonds, debentures, gifts, shares, managed investments and bullion is deemed. The value of all your financial assets is added together, and deemed interest rates are applied to calculate the income.

Financial Obligations

You need to tell us within 14 days (28 days if you are living overseas or receive Remote Area Allowance) if your income is more than $XXXX.XX per fortnight or the value of your assets, apart from your home, is more than $XXXXXX.XX. Income includes deemed income from your financial assets and income from other sources.

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 our Income Support Staff on 1300 550 452. For any other inquiries please contact the Department at the address or telephone number shown at the top of this letter.

Yours sincerely,

DAVID MACKRELL

Deputy Commissioner

PAYMENT INFORMATION ATTACHMENT

The Department now calculates T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP payments on a daily basis. This means that your fortnightly pension payment is now 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.

Listed below are the payment tables showing the different amounts of pension you will receive on the paydays that are affected, with the final payment table showing your ongoing payment.

PAYMENTS TO XXXXX XXXXXXX and XXXXX XXXXXXX for

Pension Payday 04 OCTOBER 2001

TOTAL FORTNIGHTLY PAYMENT — xxx.xx — xxx.xx

This is made up of:

- xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx — xxx.xx — xxx.xx

- xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx x.xx x.xx

PAYMENTS TO XXXXX XXXXXXX and XXXXX XXXXXXX for

Pension Payday 18 OCTOBER 2001

TOTAL FORTNIGHTLY PAYMENT — xxx.xx — xxx.xx

This is made up of:

- xxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx — xxx.xx — xxx.xx

- xxxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxxxx x.xx x.xx

MANAGED INVESTMENTS AND SHARES INFORMATION

(Information current as at T-ADVICE-PRINT-DATE)

You are receiving T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP at less than the maximum rate payable.

You are currently paid under the T-INCOME-ASSET-TEST test. The total of your fortnightly income is T-TOTAL-FORT-INCOME. The total of all your assets (excluding any deductible assets) is T-TOTAL-ASSETS.

Information about your T-SHARES-AND-OR-MIS is provided below.

Your T-SHARES-AND-OR-MIS have been automatically updated. The information below sets out the new values for these products.

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.

Please note: We have not provided you with a complete listing of any other income or assets you may have in your assessment. However, they continue to be used in assessing the amount of T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP you are paid.

You need to notify the Department if the list of your Managed Investments and/or Shares is incomplete or incorrect; or the number of shares or units you hold has changed.

This is an example of the General Information Sheet (GIS) for Service Pensioners that will be used in the March mailout. There is a separate GIS for both income support supplement and age pensioner recipients. PLEASE NOTE: Rates and thresholds have been updated to reflect changes.

GENERAL INFORMATION ON SERVICE PENSION RATES AND LIMITS

(Information current as at T-ADVICE-PRINT-DATE)

MAXIMUM RATES OF SERVICE PENSION (excludes pharmaceutical allowance)

Singles Rate$421.80 (per fortnight)

Couples Rate (each)$352.10 (per fortnight)

PENSION INCOME LIMIT (per fortnight)

Before Service Pension ReducesCut Off*

Singles Rate$112.00$1,181.00

Couples Rate (combined)$200.00$1,975.00

These limits may increase for each dependent child or student up to the age of T-CHILD-AGE, or if rent assistance is payable.

PENSION ASSETS LIMIT

Before Service Pension ReducesCut Off*

Home Owner

Singles Rate$141,000$283,750

Couples Rate (combined)$200,500$437,500

Non Home Owner

Singles Rate$242,000$384,750

Couples Rate (combined)$301,500$538,500

These limits may increase for each dependent child or student up to the age of T-CHILD-AGE, or if rent assistance is payable.

NOTE: *Income and assets cut off limits applies to all service pensioners except blinded service pensioners.

GOLD CARD INFORMATION

GOLD CARD INCOME CUT OFF LIMIT

Singles Rate$324.00 (per fortnight)

Couples Rate (combined)$566.00 (per fortnight)

Add $69.60 per fortnight for each dependent child or student to the age of T-CHILD-AGE.

GOLD CARD ASSETS CUT OFF LIMIT

Home Owner

Singles Rate$169,500

Couples Rate (combined)$249,500

Non Home Owner

Singles Rate$270,500

Couples Rate (combined)$350,500

Add approximately $6,000 for each dependent child or student up to the age of T-CHILD-AGE.

NOTE 1: These income and asset limits apply to the Gold Card only. Different income and asset limits apply to the pension. These limits can be found at the top of the page.

NOTE 2: If you are a World War II veteran or mariner aged 70 years or over, who served in Australia's Defence Forces or Australia's Merchant Navy between 3 September 1939 and 29 October 1945, and have qualifying service from that conflict, the above Gold Card income and asset cut off limits do not apply to you as your Gold Card is not affected by your income and assets.

DEEMING

Deeming assumes that any money you have invested in financial assets is earning a particular amount of income regardless of the actual amount earned. The deeming rates are:

Singles

Low Rate:- 2.5% interest up to the threshold of $33,400

High Rate:- 4% interest for the remaining balance

Couples

Low Rate:- 2.5% interest up to the threshold of $55,800

High Rate:- 4% interest for the remaining balance

ILLNESS SEPARATED COUPLES

Couples separated due to ill health are paid at the single rate of service pension, but have their income and assets assessed as a couple.

RENT ASSISTANCE

You may be eligible for rent assistance if you pay rent to a non-government body or landlord. The amount of rent assistance you receive depends on the amount of rent you pay and your family circumstances. Rent assistance is paid at the rate of 75 cents in the dollar for every dollar you pay over the set rent limits.

When calculating the amount of rent assistance payable to a service pension recipient, any disability pension received by that person or their partner, is counted as income and may reduce the rate of rent assistance payable.

Maximum Amount of Rent Assistance Payable (per fortnight)

No children1-2 children3 or more

children

Singles Rate$90.60$106.00$120.20

Couples Rate

(combined)$85.40$106.00$120.20

Rent Limits (per fortnight)

No children1-2 children3 or more

children

Singles Rate$80.40$105.80$105.80

Couples Rate

(combined)$131.00$156.40$156.40

EXAMPLE 2: Overall Decrease - either from Maximum Rate to Less than Max Rate or Decrease of Less than Max Rate amount - WITHOUT Managed Investments and/or Shares in Assessment. Deeming Rate Change

T-ADVICE-RETURN-ADDRESS _

Commonwealth Department of

Veterans' Affairs_

Contact:STATE OFFICE

Telephone:

AMP Place

10 Eagle Street

Brisbane Qld 4000

Postal Address:

GPO Box 651 Brisbane Qld 4001

Telephone:

General inquiries: 133 254

Non-metropolitan callers: 1800 555 254

Dialling from interstate: 1300 13 1945

Facsimile: (07) 32238585

T-ADVICE-PRINT-DATE

YOUR FILE NUMBER IS T-FILE-NUMBER

T-ADVICE-SALUTATION,

I am writing to you about your T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP payment from Veterans' Affairs.

This change will take effect from T-CLNT-EFFECTIVE DATE.

Payment Information

Please refer to the enclosed Payment Information Attachment to see a breakdown of your payments.

The following table shows where your pension payments are going.

Date	Name	Payment Destination	Amount Deposited
T-PAYDIVER-DATE	T-PAYDIV-PAYEE	T-PAYDIV-PAYDEST	T-PAYDIV-AMOUNT

Deemed Interest Rate Change - Financial Assets

This has resulted in a change to the income amounts used to work out your rate of T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP.

Total Financial Assets

FINANCIAL ASSETS VALUE	DEEMED INTEREST RATE	DEEMED INCOME PER FORTNIGHT
$XX,XXX.XX	2.5%	$XX.XX
$XX,XXX.XX	4%	$XXX.XX
$XX,XXX.XX		$XXX.XX

What is Deemed Income?

Financial Obligations

Other Obligations

We have explained your obligations to you in previous letters and the booklet 'You and Your Pension'. These obligations still apply. (This note included in Advice Mockups only: Reference to 'You and Your Pension' will not be made for Age Pensioners)

Changes You Have Already Told Us About

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 the 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.

Yours sincerely,

DAVID MACKRELL

Deputy Commissioner

ATTACHMENTS

Payment Information Attachment - YES

Managed Investments and/or Shares Information Attachment - NO

General Information Sheet - YES

EXAMPLE 3: Increase from Less than Maximum Rate to Maximum Rate, WITH MIs/SHs in assessment. Deeming Rate change.

T-ADVICE-RETURN-ADDRESS _

Commonwealth Department of

Veterans' Affairs_

Contact:STATE OFFICE

Telephone:

AMP Place

10 Eagle Street

Brisbane Qld 4000

Postal Address:

GPO Box 651 Brisbane Qld 4001

Telephone:

General inquiries: 133 254

Non-metropolitan callers: 1800 555 254

Dialling from interstate: 1300 13 1945

Facsimile: (07) 32238585

T-ADVICE-PRINT-DATE

YOUR FILE NUMBER IS T-FILE-NUMBER

T-ADVICE-SALUTATION,

I am writing to you about your T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP payment from Veterans' Affairs.

Your pension has been adjusted in line with movements in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Male Total Average Weekly Earnings (MTAWE).

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 T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP payment and has resulted in an increase to the amount of T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP paid to you.

You have been increased to the maximum rate of T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP.

This change will take effect from T-CLNT-EFFECTIVE DATE.

Payment Information

Please refer to the enclosed Payment Information Attachment to see a breakdown of your payments.

The following table shows where your pension payments are going.

Date	Name	Payment Destination	Amount Deposited
T-PAYDIVER-DATE	T-PAYDIV-PAYEE	T-PAYDIV-PAYDEST	T-PAYDIV-AMOUNT

Deemed Interest Rate Change - Financial Assets

This has resulted in a change to the income amounts used to work out your rate of T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP.

Total Financial Assets

FINANCIAL ASSETS VALUE	DEEMED INTEREST RATE	DEEMED INCOME PER FORTNIGHT
$XX,XXX.XX	2.5%	$XX.XX
$XX,XXX.XX	4%	$XXX.XX
$XX,XXX.XX		$XXX.XX

What is Deemed Income?

Financial Obligations

You need to tell us within 14 days (28 days if you are living overseas or receive Remote Area Allowance) if your income is more than $XXXX.XX per fortnight or the value of your assets, apart from your home, is more than $XXXXXX.XX. Income includes deemed income from your financial assets and income from other sources.

Other Obligations

Changes You Have Already Told Us About

Your Right of Review

Yours sincerely,

DAVID MACKRELL

Deputy Commissioner

ATTACHMENTS

Payment Information Attachment - YES

Managed Investments and/or Shares Information Attachment - YES

General Information Sheet - YES

EXAMPLE 4: Age Pension Increase remaining on Less than Maximum Rate, Disability Pension in payment, WITHOUT Managed Investments/Shares in Assessment, Deeming Rate Change

T-ADVICE-RETURN-ADDRESS _

Commonwealth Department of

Veterans' Affairs_

Contact:STATE OFFICE

Telephone:

AMP Place

10 Eagle Street

Brisbane Qld 4000

Postal Address:

GPO Box 651 Brisbane Qld 4001

Telephone:

General inquiries: 133 254

Non-metropolitan callers: 1800 555 254

Dialling from interstate: 1300 13 1945

Facsimile: (07) 32238585

T-ADVICE-PRINT-DATE

YOUR FILE NUMBER IS T-FILE-NUMBER

T-ADVICE-SALUTATION,

I am writing to you about your T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP payment from Veterans' Affairs.

Your pension has been adjusted in line with movements in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and Male Total Average Weekly Earnings (MTAWE).

This change will take effect from T-CLNT-EFFECTIVE DATE.

The amount of disability pension paid to you has varied.

Payment Information

Please refer to the enclosed Payment Information Attachment to see a breakdown of your payments.

The following table shows where your pension payments are going.

Date	Name	Payment Destination	Amount Deposited
T-PAYDIVER-DATE	T-PAYDIV-PAYEE	T-PAYDIV-PAYDEST	T-PAYDIV-AMOUNT

Deemed Interest Rate Change - Financial Assets

This has resulted in a change to the income amounts used to work out your rate of T-PENSION-SP-ISS-AP.

Total Financial Assets

FINANCIAL ASSETS VALUE	DEEMED INTEREST RATE	DEEMED INCOME PER FORTNIGHT
$XX,XXX.XX	2.5%	$XX.XX
$XX,XXX.XX	4%	$XXX.XX
$XX,XXX.XX		$XXX.XX

What is Deemed Income?

Financial Obligations

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

Other Obligations

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

Changes You Have Already Told Us About

Your Right of Review

If you do not agree with a decision, you may apply to have it reviewed by a Review Officer at this office. If you decide to apply it may be to your advantage to do so quickly. If you apply for a review of the decision 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. A request for a review must be in writing and set out your reasons for seeking a review.

Yours sincerely,

DAVID MACKRELL

Deputy Commissioner as Delegate of the Secretary

ATTACHMENTS

Payment Information Attachment - YES

Managed Investments and/or Shares Information Attachment - NO

General Information Sheet - YES

EXAMPLE 5: Reduction to Nil, WITH MIs/SHs in assessment, Deeming Rate Change