Our Member Services contact centre will be closed from 12pm Wednesday 18 December and re-open 8am Thursday 19 December. During this time, you can leave a message with your contact details and we will call you back.
You are required to let new employees choose their super fund when they start working for you.
When they join your business, you need to provide them with the Choice of Fund form. The exception is if they are covered by a workplace agreement or are a member of a defined benefit scheme.
When new employees complete the Choice of Fund form, they can choose to:
The point is that they can choose what fund their superannuation contributions go to. All you need to do is provide them with the Choice of Fund from.
Download Choice of Fund form
It is important for new employees to use their personal email address, home address and mobile number. This applies to the Choice of Fund form, if you register them through a clearing house, or if they decide to join First Super online or any other super fund.
It helps keep their contact details up to date even when they change jobs. It is important for them to receive communications about their super balance and details of changes to admin fees or their insurance in super.
It also means we can contact them if there’s any suspicious activity on their account.
When a new member of staff joins your business, you need to provide their tax file number (TFN) to their super fund. Without their TFN, they may pay more tax than necessary on their super.
When an employee provides you with their TFN the law requires you to pass it on to us. Failing to do so may result in a fine from the ATO.
To update your employee’s TFN, you can contact us directly or update through SuperChoice. With new employees, you can provide their TFN when you begin to make super guarantee (SG) contributions.
What happens if your employee does not choose a fund?
If your employee does not choose a super fund, you are required to find out if they have a stapled fund. You can do this by using the ATO’s Online services for business portal. If they do, you must make their SG contributions to this fund.
What is a ‘stapled’ fund?
The government introduced ‘stapling’ in superannuation to address the issue of multiple super accounts. In the past, when an employee started a new job, they would frequently join a new fund rather than directing their SG contributions to their existing super fund. They were also not rolling over any of their existing funds into their new fund, which led to many people having multiple super accounts and paying multiple sets of fees.
Stapling is designed to ensure employees are ‘stapled’ to one fund for life, so they don’t join a new fund each time they start a new job (unless they choose to!)
You need to request an employee’s ‘stapled’ super fund from the ATO using their online services for business portal.
What happens if an employee has no stapled fund?
If your new employee has not selected a super fund and has no stapled fund, then you can join them to your business default super fund.
If your employee wants to become a First Super member, there are several ways for them to join:
Updating employee details on SuperChoice
If a staff member leaves your business, you can update this information easily through SuperChoice.
You can also use SuperChoice to add information about your employee’s TFN.
Updating other employee details
If your employee has personal details they want to update, such as change of address, they need to reach out to their super fund directly for help.
If they’re a member of First Super, they can log into their account and update their details online. Or they can call us, use live chat on our website or ask their local Coordinator for help.
If you have any questions, please call our Employer Services Team on 1300 943 171 or request a call back from a business specialist.
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