Admin fee FAQ

For super accounts, the new admin fee from 3 September 2022 comprises of:

• a flat fee of $1 a week PLUS
• an asset-based fee of 0.10% pa of your account balance (capped at $350 a year).

For Choice Income and TTR Income accounts, the new admin fee from 1 September 2022 comprises of:

• a flat fee of $1 a week PLUS
• an asset-based fee of 0.10% pa of your account balance (capped at $600 a year).

The fee changes came into effect on

• 3 September 2022 for super accounts, and
• 1 September 2022 for Choice Income and TTR Income accounts.

The new admin fee will be debited directly from your account at the end of every month:

• for super accounts, the admin fee will be debited on the last Friday of the month, and
• for Choice Income and TTR Income accounts, the admin fee will be debited on the last day of the month.

The new admin fee will appear in your transaction history from October 2022, and you can view it by logging into your account or via the mobile app. When you receive your 30 June 2022 annual statement later this year, it’ll reflect the previous admin fee and not the new admin fee which starts from September 2022.

An asset-based fee is a percentage fee that is applied to your account balance. As your account balance changes, so too does the fee amount that you pay. Applying a cap to the asset-based fee, means members aren’t paying more than necessary to cover the costs of running their accounts.

For more details about fee caps, please refer to the next question.

A fee cap limits how much fees you have to pay each year.

Two types of fee caps apply to AustralianSuper accounts – one of them is government legislated and another is part of AustralianSuper’s new admin fee structure.

Legislated fee cap for low balances

The Federal Government’s Protecting Your Super Package legislation (introduced 1 July 2019) imposes a limit on certain admin and investment fees and costs to protect Australians’ super savings from unnecessary erosion by fees. This means that for super, TTR Income and Choice Income accounts with balances below $6,000 at the end of 30 June each year, there is a 3% cap on certain admin and investment fees and costs.

This legislated fee cap still applies when AustralianSuper’s new admin fee structure comes into effect in September 2022.

AustralianSuper’s asset-based fee cap

The new admin fee consists of a flat fee ($1 a week), and a capped variable asset-based fee (0.10% pa of your account balance):

• for super accounts the asset-based fee is capped at $350 a year;
• for Choice Income and TTR Income accounts the asset-based fee is capped at $600 a year.

A fee cap for the variable asset-based fee limits how much you may have to pay each year as your account balance increases. This is a fairer way to manage the fee than having no cap.

For super accounts the variable asset-based fee (0.10% pa of your account balance) is capped at $350 a year. This means that if your super account balance is more than $350,000 you pay a maximum admin fee of $402 a year. See calculation below.

Maximum admin fee for super accounts (a year)
= Flat fee of $52 a year ($1 x 52 weeks) + maximum asset-based fee of $350 a year
= $402.

For Choice Income and TTR Income accounts the variable asset-based fee (0.10% pa of your account balance) is capped at $600 a year. This means that when your Choice Income or TTR Income account balance is more than $600,000, you pay a maximum admin fee of $652 a year. See calculation below.

Maximum admin fee for Choice Income/ TTR Income accounts (a year)
= Flat fee of $52 a year ($1 x 52 weeks) + maximum asset-based fee of $600 a year
= $652.

If a member has two accounts with AustralianSuper, for example a super account and a Choice Income account, then two asset-based fee caps apply. ($350 a year for the account balance in super and $600 a year for the account balance in Choice Income).

Only about 5% of members with super accounts will pay the maximum admin fee amount; and about 22% of members with Choice Income or TTR Income accounts will pay the maximum admin fee amount. (Based on member data as of 30 April 2022).

The new asset-based admin fee calculation applies to the total balance of your super or Choice Income account. This calculation includes any balance held in Member Direct.

The previous 0.04% admin fee for super accounts was charged on the balance of your account, excluding any funds in Member Direct, up to 2 September 2022.

Regulatory Guidance 97 ‘Disclosing fees and costs in Product Disclosure Statements (PDSs) and periodic statements’ is a new government regulation that specifies how providers disclose fees and costs to you. Fees and costs need to be disclosed gross of tax from 30 September 2022.

When our new admin fee came into effect in September 2022, we complied with the new regulation by publishing all fees and costs (including the new admin fee) gross or before tax (before any tax deductions are taken into account). We pass on and credit the tax deduction the Fund claims for expenses it incurs to administer the Fund, which reduces your admin fee amount by 15%. This applies to super and TTR Income accounts only, not Choice Income accounts (because investment returns on Choice Income accounts are not subject to income tax and so the Trustee is unable to claim a tax deduction for the expenses incurred for the administration of the Fund for Choice Income accounts).

The $2.25 admin fee amount you previously paid was net of tax. The Fund’s estimated cost to run your account was approximately $2.65 a week which is gross of tax. The Fund claimed a tax deduction for its administration costs each year which was paid into our administration reserve to benefit members. The gross fees of $1 a week (flat fee) and 0.10% pa capped at $350pa for super accounts and $600pa for TTR Income accounts and Choice Income accounts (asset-based fee) will both be charged and deducted monthly from your account balance. The 15% tax deduction the Fund claims on the new admin fee will be passed onto you and credited to your account. This tax deduction applies to super accounts and TTR Income accounts only. The $2.25 Choice Income admin fee amount you previously paid was net of tax.

From early September 2022, the new flat fee component of the administration fee is $1 a week (gross of tax / before tax). The tax deduction claimed by the Fund equates to $0.15 a week and is returned to your account (after fees are deducted) as a separate transaction. These transactions will appear in your transaction history in your annual statement and when you log into your account online.

The practical effect of this process is that the cost of the administration fee for you is $0.85 per week. This applies only to super and TTR Income accounts, and does not apply to Choice Income accounts (because investment returns in Choice Income accounts are not taxed).

For example, for super and TTR Income accounts:

• The new gross of tax flat fee of $1 a week + credit to your account of a Fund tax deduction of $0.15 = a practical cost to you of $0.85 a week.

These amounts will appear on your statement as a monthly deduction. For example, if it’s a 4-week month, $4 is deducted and then $0.60 is credited to your account.

The same rules apply on the asset-based fee. For example, for super and TTR Income accounts:

• The new gross of tax asset-based fee of 0.10% pa of account balance + credit to your account of Fund tax deduction of 0.15% = asset-based fee of 0.085% net of tax.

For example, the table below shows how this applies across the year for a $50,000 super account balance.

New fees and costs disclosure requirements (described as RG97 regulation) require that fees and costs must be disclosed gross of tax from 30 September 2022 (please refer to previous FAQ for details).

When we compare the previous admin fee and new admin fee for you, we show the previous admin fee net of tax, because that’s what was previously charged by the Fund and deducted from your account and the new admin fee gross of tax. The amounts listed in the table in the previous FAQ show what was previously deducted from your account and what is deducted from your account from September 2022 when the new admin fee structure came into effect.

No, you won’t be charged an exit fee if you withdraw your super. Your admin fee for the month you leave AustralianSuper will be pro-rated – this means you’ll only pay admin fees for the days you’re still with the Fund.

If you’re considering moving to another super fund, it’s important as always to compare fees and costs, as well as long-term investment returns and insurance benefits and costs.

We can't provide you with advice about choosing another super fund; that is a decision you need to make based on your personal objectives, financial situation or needs. However, before you make the switch, it is worthwhile comparing both admin and investment fees, investment returns and member benefits of the other super fund against what you currently receive through AustralianSuper.

You can also compare the ‘net benefit’ – a measure of historical investment returns less admin and investment fees. Many funds publish these measures on their website, and they give an indication of what they have delivered to their members in terms of past returns, less admin and investment fees. You can see AustralianSuper’s historical ‘net benefit’ at australiansuper.com/compare

We want to remain one of the most competitive super funds in Australia, so we’ll continue to manage costs carefully to help avoid frequent fee changes.

You can rest assured that we won't increase fees for members unless we absolutely need to.

To help keep fees and costs low, we have removed

• Family Law Act information request fee
• Family Law Act splitting account fee and
• Contribution splitting fee

This means you no longer have to pay a fee when splitting your super contribution with your spouse, or if you’re requesting information or splitting super in the case of a separation.

Some of the costs to administer members' accounts are fixed and others depend on what services are being used and how often.

Before making this change, we modelled a wide range of fee options to make sure the new admin fee structure is competitive, equitable and sustainable, while complying with all regulations.

A cap on the variable part of the fee provides certainty for members with higher account balances about the maximum amount of administration fees they may pay.

While this new admin fee structure delivers a fee reduction for 1.7 million members, it does also mean around 21% of members would pay more. However, the cap ensures high balance members won’t pay disproportionally more. (Based on member data as of 20 May 2022).