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The provisions of the Public Trustee Act 1978 as they relate to the responsibilities of persons holding unclaimed moneys or unclaimed superannuation benefits are set out below.
PART 8—UNCLAIMED PROPERTY
Division 1A—Object
97A Object of pt 8
(1) The object of this part is to provide a scheme for paying or giving unclaimed property held by particular persons to the public trustee and for returning unclaimed property to persons lawfully entitled to it.
(2) For unclaimed superannuation benefits, the object is to be achieved by satisfying the requirements of the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 (Cwlth) to enable the benefits to be paid to the public trustee instead of the commissioner of taxation.
97B Application of unclaimed superannuation benefit provisions
A regulation may regulate the application of this part in relation to unclaimed superannuation benefits according to specified circumstances connected with the State, whether arising within or outside the State.
Division 1—Unclaimed money
Subdivision 1—Interpretation
98 Definitions
In this division—
“accountable person” means a person (other than the Crown) or body (other than a body representing the Crown) having as an object the carrying on of any trade, business or profession in the ordinary course of which money is held for payment to others and includes—
(a) a receiver;
(b) a statutory authority set up by any Act;
(c) a trustee company as defined in the Trustee Companies Act 1968;
(d) an entity prescribed by regulation to be an entity to which this division applies.
“owner” means the person entitled to any unclaimed moneys and the executors, administrators or assigns of such person and his, her or their lawful attorney or agent in Queensland.
“unclaimed moneys” means—
(a) all principal and interest moneys and all dividends, bonuses, profits, and sums of money whatsoever which at any time have become payable (whether before or after the commencement of this Act) by an accountable person, in the course of the person’s trade, business or profession, to the owner and the whole or part of which have been in the possession of the accountable person for 2 years or more; and
(b) an unclaimed superannuation benefit.
98A Meaning of “unclaimed superannuation benefit”
(1) An “unclaimed superannuation benefit” is a benefit, other than an annuity or a pension, that—
(a) the trustee of an approved deposit fund or a regulated superannuation fund decides, under the fund’s governing rules, is payable immediately to a member of the fund who has reached the eligibility age for a pension; and
(b) the trustee can not pay to the member because the trustee, after making reasonable efforts to find the member, can not find the member.
(2) Subsection (1) applies whether or not the member has asked the trustee to pay the benefit to the member.
(3) An “unclaimed superannuation benefit” is also a benefit, other than an annuity or a pension, that—
(a) the trustee of an approved deposit fund or a regulated superannuation fund decides, under the fund’s governing rules, is payable immediately to a person (the “beneficiary”) in relation to a member of the fund who has died; and
(b) before the member died, the member—
(i) had not asked the trustee to pay to the member; or
(ii) had asked the trustee to pay to the member, but was not paid before the member died; and
(c) the trustee can not pay to the beneficiary because the trustee, after making reasonable efforts to find the beneficiary, can not find the beneficiary.
(4) In this section—
“approved deposit fund” see the Superannuation Industry (Supervision)Act 1993 (Cwlth), section 10(1).
“regulated superannuation fund” see the Superannuation Industry(Supervision) Act 1993 (Cwlth), sections 10(1) and 19.
Subdivision 2—Registers and other matters about unclaimed moneys
99 Dividends not to be forfeited
Notwithstanding anything contained in any Act or law or in any memorandum or articles of association or deed or other instrument of incorporation of any accountable person, it shall not be lawful for any accountable person to forfeit any moneys from time to time legally payable and distributable as or by way of dividends, bonuses, or profits of that accountable person.
99A Public Trustee’s register of unclaimed moneys
(1) The public trustee must keep a register of unclaimed moneys paid to the public trustee under this division.
(2) The register must contain the following details—
(a) the name, and last known address, of the person for whom the moneys are held;
(b) the amount held for the person;
(c) if the moneys are an unclaimed superannuation benefit—
(i) the name of the fund in which the unclaimed moneys were held;
(ii) the following particulars about the member of the fund to whom, or in relation to whom, the amount was payable—
(A) membership number;
(B) date of birth;
(C) last known address;
(D) any other detail prescribed under a regulation.
(3) A person may, on payment of the fee fixed under section 1734—
(a) inspect the register at the public trustee’s head office when the office is open to the public; and
(b) take extracts from, or obtain a copy of details in, the register.
100 Accountable person’s register of unclaimed moneys
(1) Every accountable person shall keep and maintain a register, in the form approved by the public trustee, at the person’s principal place of business in Queensland.
(1A) On 14 February in every year each accountable person shall enter in such register the particulars specified, in the form approved by the public trustee, of all unclaimed moneys which have not previously been entered in the corresponding register for any previous year.
(2) On and after 15 February in every year and for a period of 2 years after the entry is made, the entry shall, on payment of a fee of $1, be open to inspection by all persons at such principal place of business during the hours within which the accountable person transacts the person’s ordinary business.
(3) Every such register shall be advertised by the person keeping it by publishing a copy thereof in the gazette during the month of February.
(3A) However, it shall not be necessary to include in such advertisement entries which, with all other moneys entered in the register in respect of the same entitlement, do not exceed in the aggregate $500 or, if the public trustee consents in writing, $1 000.
(4) An accountable person who fails to keep or advertise such register, or who refuses inspection thereof, shall be liable to a maximum penalty of 1 penalty unit for every day during which such default or refusal continues.
100A Statement about unclaimed superannuation benefits
(1) After the end of each half-year, an accountable person must give the public trustee a statement about unclaimed superannuation benefits held by the accountable person at the end of the half-year.
(2) The statement must be in the form approved by the public trustee and must be given to the public trustee by—
(a) for the half-year ending on 30 June in a year—31 October in that year; and
(b) for the half-year ending on 31 December in a year—30 April in the next year.
(3) However, the public trustee may, by written notice given to the accountable person before or after the day by which the statement must be given under subsection (2), allow the accountable person to give the statement by a later stated day.
(4) If the public trustee gives the accountable person a notice under subsection (3), the accountable person, instead of giving the statement by the day mentioned in subsection (2), must give the statement by the day stated in the notice.
(5) If, after the end of the half-year to which the statement relates but before the statement is given to the public trustee, the accountable person pays a person an amount of unclaimed superannuation benefits mentioned in the statement, the statement must contain the particulars about the amount required by the public trustee on the approved form.
(6) For this section, the form of statement the public trustee may approve includes a disc, tape or other article or any material from which sounds, images, writings or messages are capable of being produced or reproduced (with or without the aid of another article or device).
101 Public Trustee may examine documents
(1) The public trustee may at any time, if the public trustee has reason to believe that an entry should have been made as required by section 100, or statement should have been given under section 100A, examine any books, vouchers, accounts, documents, or papers as may in the public trustee’s opinion be necessary for the public trustee to determine whether the entry or statement has, or should have, been made, or given, and may for that purpose require the production before the public trustee or before such person as the public trustee may appoint, of all books, vouchers, accounts, documents or papers.
(2) Any person who refuses examination, makes default in or refuses production of any books, vouchers, accounts, documents or papers, as required by subsection (1), shall be liable to a maximum penalty of 1 penalty unit for every day during which such refusal or default continues.
(3) If any error is found in any register or notice aforesaid, the public trustee may cause the register to be amended or advertised, or both, at the expense of the accountable person.
(4) If an error is found in a statement given under section 100A, the public trustee may ask the accountable person who gave the statement to amend it and give the amended statement to the public trustee by a stated day.
(5) The accountable person must comply with the request.
Maximum penalty—100 penalty units.
(6) If, as a result of the error, the accountable person would have been required to pay a further amount to the public trustee under section 102(1A), the accountable person must pay the amount to the public trustee when giving the amended statement under subsection (4).
Maximum penalty—200 penalty units.
102 Unclaimed moneys to be paid to Public Trustee
(1A) When an accountable person gives a statement to the public trustee under section 100A,37 the accountable person must pay to the public trustee the amount equalling the difference between the following amounts specified in the statement—
(a) the unclaimed superannuation benefits held by the accountable person at the end of the half-year to which the statement relates;
(b) the unclaimed superannuation benefits paid to a person after the end of the half-year to which the statement relates, the particulars of which must be contained in the statement under section 100A(5).
Maximum penalty—200 penalty units.
(1) All unclaimed moneys, other than unclaimed superannuation benefits, which have not been paid by an accountable person to the owner thereof within 1 year after they have been or should have been entered in the register kept by the accountable person under section 100 shall be paid by such person to the public trustee.
Maximum penalty—200 penalty units.
(2) However, an accountable person may deduct out of all unclaimed moneys, other than unclaimed superannuation benefits, payable by the accountable person to the public trustee the expenses paid by the accountable person in the advertising of the register as aforesaid, and such expenses shall be deducted from the respective balances of such moneys in proportion to the respective amounts thereof.
(3) An accountable person who fails to pay any unclaimed moneys to the public trustee as herein required shall be liable to a maximum penalty of 1 penalty unit for every day during which such default continues.
(4) Any right of the owner to recover such unclaimed moneys which exists at the time the accountable person enters such unclaimed moneys in the register shall not be prejudiced or affected by such entry and such right may be enforced by such owner at any time before the unclaimed moneys are paid to the public trustee, but not afterwards.
(5) However, the accountable person shall be entitled to deduct from the amount payable to the owner such part of the expenses paid by the accountable person in advertising the notice required by section 100(3) as the amount claimed bears to the total amount to which the notice relates.
102A Public Trustee may refund certain amounts to accountable persons
(1) This section applies if an accountable person—
(a) has paid an unclaimed superannuation benefit to the public
trustee under this subdivision; and
(b) satisfies the public trustee that the amount of the benefit paid to the public trustee is more than the amount that would have been paid to the person entitled to its payment had section 102(1A) not been enacted.
(2) The public trustee must refund the amount of the overpayment to the accountable person.
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