The Government must be careful not to impose onerous conditions on superannuation trustees when it comes to the storage, security and destruction of tax file numbers (TFNs), according to the Association of Superannuation Funds of Australia (ASFA).
In its submission to Information Commissioner's review of the TFN guidelines consultation paper, ASFA has highlighted issues for trustees that arise out of the connection of TFNs with peoples' identities.
"ASFA considers it important that the Information Commissioner acknowledges that it would be unreasonable to require TFN recipients to destroy or de-identify TFN information stored on computer systems, in back-up files or in hard copy documents which have been archived," the submission said.
In particular, ASFA pointed out that it would often be impossible for trustees to determine the point at which information entered into systems or hard copy archives would no longer be required.
"Altering back-up data files would defeat the fundamental business purpose of creating back-up files in the first place," the submission said.
The ASFA submission also took issue with the requirement to store TFN information separately from an individual's other personal information, since the two were intrinsically linked.
"This is particularly the situation with the reporting of superannuation contributions information between employers and superannuation funds, and the superannuation funds and the Australian Taxation Office," the submission said.
The research house has offered a silver lining after super fund returns saw the end of a five-month streak last month.
A survey of almost 6,000 fund members has identified weakening retirement confidence, particularly among those under 55 years of age, signalling an opportunity for super funds to better engage with members on their retirement journey.
The funds have confirmed the signing of a successor fund transfer deed, moving closer to creating a new $29 billion entity.
A number of measures, including super on Paid Parental Leave, funding to recover unpaid super, and frameworks to encourage investment in the energy transition, have been welcomed by the superannuation industry.
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