Super rules for employers

You must generally pay super on top of wages if:

• your employee is 18 years or older and earns more than $450 (before tax) in a calendar month
• your employee is under 18 and earns more than $450 (before tax) in a calendar month but also works more than 30 hours per week.

You may need to pay super to contractors even if they have an Australian business number (ABN), particularly where they’re being paid for labour or skill.
 
It doesn't matter if your employee is here on a work visa, works casually, part-time or full-time. If they meet the criteria above, you’re generally required to pay super.
 
If you’re not sure, call the ATO on 13 10 20 for more information.

SG payments can easily be made via QuickSuper, our free online clearing house. You can use electronic funds transfer (EFT) or BPAY. Clearance times for these payments are detailed below:

• BPAY: 3 business days after the date of transaction
• EFT: 1 business day after the date of transaction.

To make sure you meet the deadline, please allow for public holidays, weekends and your financial institution’s daily cut-off times.
 

If an employee chooses to make an additional super contribution, such as a salary sacrifice, you'll need to deduct the contribution from their pre-tax earnings and pay it into their fund by the 28th of the following month.

 

Ordinary time earnings (OTE) generally include the ordinary hours of work plus:

• shift and casual loadings
• directors' fees
• commissions
• performance bonuses
• paid annual, sick and long service leave
• over-award payments
• allowances.

What's not included

• parental leave
• overtime which is generally not included, even if someone regularly works overtime as part of their job.

For more information on salary or wages and OTE, go to the ATO's checklist.

When an employee gives you their TFN, by law you must pass it on to their super fund. This needs to happen:

• on the day that you make the first Superannuation Guarantee (SG) payment for that employee, or
• within 14 days of receiving their TFN.

If you don’t pass an employee’s TFN to their super fund, that employee will need to pay much higher tax on their contributions, and you’ll incur a financial penalty from the ATO. Penalties also apply if you engage a third party who fails to pass on a member's TFN.

By law, reporting your contributions to employees is only required if they're covered by an award or agreement that mandates it.

However, even if you're not obliged to, you might find that reporting can deliver other advantages like building employee relations or minimising employee contribution queries.

Under stapling requirements, when a new employee starts a job, you must provide them with a Standard Choice Form and pay eligible super contributions into their chosen super fund (if they nominate one).

If the employee does not nominate a fund using the form, you'll need to check with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to see if your employee has a stapled super fund.

You can pay into your default fund, or another fund that meets the choice of fund rules if:

• your employee doesn’t choose a super fund, and
• the ATO hase advised you that the employee does not have a stapled super fund.

You don’t need to offer a choice of super fund to some employees, but you may still need to request their stapled super fund details. This includes employees that are:

• temporary residents
• covered by an enterprise agreement or workplace determination made before 1 January 2021.

You can support your employees to choose their own super fund by:

• helping them to understand the super standard choice form
• reminding them of the benefits of choosing their own super fund and keeping track of their super 
• Directing them to the YourSuper comparison tool

You should offer members the Superannuation standard choice form to elect their choice of super fund.

Single Touch Payroll (STP) is a way to report information to the ATO. All employers, regardless of size, are required to do this.
Learn more
 

SuperStream is a data standard for making and paying super contributions that all employers are required to comply with by law. Employers will be compliant if they use our free clearing house to make super contributions.

You need to offer your eligible new employees a choice of super fund and pay their super into the account they tell you. Most employees are eligible to choose what fund their super goes into. They can choose a super account they already have, or choose your default fund.

If your employee doesn’t choose a super fund, you will need to log into the Australian Taxation Office’s (ATO) online services to request their stapled super fund details.

If the ATO provides a stapled super fund result for your employee, you must pay your employee’s super guarantee contributions to the stapled super fund.

There may be rules pertaining to individuals who can’t choose their own fund who are employed under:

• a state industrial award
• a preserved state agreement
• a federal industrial agreement such as an Australian workplace agreement (AWA)
• a pre-reform AWA, a pre-reform certified agreement or a collective agreement
• an old industrial relations agreement or an individual transitional employment agreement (ITEA)
• a workplace determination or enterprise agreement (these are defined terms in federal industrial relations law).

Employees who are in certain types of defined benefit funds or who have already reached a certain level in a defined benefit fund are also not eligible. Some federal and state public sector employees are similarly excluded.

You will need to seek legal advice when determining if any of the above restrictions impact your employee’s ability to exercise their choice of fund.

If an employee hasn’t chosen a fund or provided sufficient information, you’ll need to check with the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to see if your employee has a stapled super fund. 

If the ATO has advised you that the employee does not have a stapled super fund, you must select a default fund for them that meets the choice of fund rules, submit all their Super Guarantee (SG) contributions into this fund, and notify the employee.

This default fund must be an authorised MySuper product.

To meet your obligations, you’ll need to:

• provide new employees with a Standard Choice Form within 28 days of their start date or within 28 days of the employee requesting a choice form.

(If your employee doesn’t choose a super fund, you may need to log into ATO online services to request their stapled super fund details).

• You can pay into your default fund, or another fund that meets the choice of fund rules if your employee doesn’t choose a super fund, and the ATO have advised you they don’t have a stapled super fund.
• have full access to the ATO’s online services, or have the ‘Employee Commencement Form’ permission in ATO online services to request a stapled super fund if the employee does not provide you with details of their choice of fund.
• pay SG contributions into an employee’s stapled or elected fund within two months of being notified of their fund choice.
• keep records for at least five years of an employee’s fund choices and payment obligations.