As an employee, benefits may be claimed in the following cases.
- Retirement Benefit
When retiring on or after your preservation age, members will be eligible to claim the funds held in their CIRT account. Tax is payable on these benefits and will be withheld when the claim is processed. - Redundancy
Upon being made redundant, you may immediately claim the balance of your CIRT account. Claims are generally processed within 2 working days of the administrator receiving completed documentation from both the employee and their employer.
Tax is not payable on genuine redundancy. If other employers have contribution to CIRT on your behalf and you were not redundant with these employers, tax will be payable on these contributions as per withdrawal from industry.
Non genuine redundancies (Eg, end of fixed term contract or termination of casual employment due to shortage of work), cannot be processed as a genuine redundancies and may be processed as an Employment Termination Payment (ETP) payment with applicable tax withheld. - Withdrawal from Industry
If you leave the industry voluntarily and are not made redundant, you may claim the balance of the contributions contributed to the trust on your behalf after a waiting period of 50 weeks from the finish date. Your claim must be submitted within this twelve month period to qualify as an ETP payment.
Withdrawal from industry payments are paid as an Employment Termination payment (ETP) and will be subject to tax. Tax is payable on these benefits and will be withheld at the time the claim is processed. - Death
If death occurs, your nominated beneficiaries may claim the balance of your CIRT account.
Tax may be payable on these benefits and will be withheld as required when the claim is processed.
- Financial hardship
If you are suffering severe financial hardship and your most recent employment has been terminated other than as a result of redundancy, you should submit details to the trustees. Each case will be individually considered by the Trustees, who will exercise their discretion as to whether a benefit can be paid under the circumstances. Financial hardship cases will only be reviewed at the quarterly board meetings.
Tax is payable on these benefits and will be withheld at the time the claim is processed. Financial hardship claims are processed as Employment Termination Payments (ETP) and tax is withheld at the applicable rate.
Please see the general tax information page for more information about tax rates and concessional tax limits
Note:
A $40 transaction fess applies to most withdrawals and transfers from CIRT. This fee is payable from the members account balance