ATO moves to ensure employers pay Superannuation Guarantee Contributions on time.

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has its sights set on employers who fail to pay Superannuation Guarantee on time. According to the ATO, 7 – 8 % of employers fail to pay on time or don’t pay the required amount of their employee’s superannuation contributions.

To address the issue, from 1 July 2018 the ATO has mandated that superannuation funds regularly report on contributions received on behalf of members, including details of the paying employer and the amount received per employee.

This information, along with data collected via Single Touch Payroll beginning 1 July 2018, will mean superannuation contributions can be tracked in real time, with discrepancies between payroll and super fund contributions for individual employees automatically flagged by the ATO.

ATO requirements

Information currently received from employers via SuperStream contribution files is insufficient to meet the ATO reporting obligations. In order to meet ATO employer obligations and provide better services to employers, First Super will be updating its Clearing House portal before the 1 July deadline.

The Superstream Alternative File Format (SAFF) will be introduced for use when sending employee superannuation contributions. The SAFF file format requires additional employee information from an employer. Whilst employers will need to make changes to their employee records, they will only need to load or update the additional information once.

The new First Super Clearing House online portal will be easy to use, enabling employers to create simple reports showing all payments made.

Little change for some employers

Early work on this change has identified many payroll systems and related services already include a SAFF file as a standard report in the product. If your payroll system / service provides this report as standard, you will be able to use this file without further change by you. Please contact your Payroll software / service supplier if you are unsure if this is available.

If you require an updated file format to use, First Super can provide the file format and an explanation of the mandatory fields to assist in preparing your contribution file.

First Super plans to automatically transfer all existing employer details to the new contribution Portal to reduce requirements on employers. In addition, First Super will be available to assist with the new contribution file if required.

More information

Work has commenced on the change. First Super will contact you again in early 2018 with more details. In the meantime, if you require further information please contact First Super’s Employer Services on 1300 943 171.