Kiwisaver Regulations in Force

The KiwiSaver Regulations cover:

• What must be included with the required documents when applying to be an exempt employer;
• The requirements for the annual reports and annual return on KiwiSaver schemes;
• The requirement that KiwiSaver fees not be unreasonable;
• The process for fees assessment by the Government Actuary;
• The terms of the Scheme Provider Agreement between providers and the Inland Revenue;
• The steps that scheme providers must take to verify the identity of a member of a scheme; and
• The fees payable to the Government Actuary to process applications for exemptions, conversions, registrations, transfers and other regulatory functions.

Finance Minister Michael Cullen said “[by] bringing the regulations into law on 1 December, we are giving providers seven months to prepare for scheme enrolments.  We are pleased we have been able to develop these regulations in consultation with the industry".

Employers who are applying to be exempt from the automatic enrolment rules must apply under section 29 of the Act.  The regulations require that those who are applying to be exempt employers must provide supporting evidence that demonstrates that their existing scheme complies with the rules in section 25 of the Act.  Employer's applications must contain, or have attached, a statement giving  cross-references for each of the rules in section 25 with the document providing the supporting evidence.

If you already offer a superannuation scheme to your employees and you intend to apply for exemption from the automatic enrolment rules, we suggest you review your requirements under the Act and begin to gather the supporting documentation.

For more information, please contact:

Erin Davies
Partner
t: +64 9 979 2177
m: +94 29 622 2300
e: Erin Davies

Last updated: 6 December 2006

This article is intended to be brief in nature and should be used for information only. It should not be relied on as legal advice.