For the vast majority of your employees (see eligibility requirements), you will have to pay super on top of their wages. All employees are covered by the superannuation guarantee. It applies to full-time, part-time and casual workers.
Step 1: Go to Help Center - Payroll Forms - Super Forms - download form and send to the employee to complete and send to you, you will now have all the information you need to pay to the employee’s superannuation fund.
Step 2: To find the amount of superannuation (SG) to pay for each employee- go to Reports - select Payroll Activity Summary - select Employees and date range - Process Report
Look under Superannuation this will give you total superannuation to pay for each employee.
Step 3: Where to pay, from the information in the super choice form you can choose from the following options:
- If you have one employee, you can usually go to the employee’s nominated super fund website and sign up as an employer following the Instructions to pay the SG amount.
. e.g.
CBUS https://www.cbussuper.com.au/content/cbus/join-forms/employer/opening-questions.html
Australian Super https://portal.australiansuper.com/tools-and-resources/forms-and-publications/join-australiansuper
- If you have multiple employees and you want to pay all your SG payments to different super funds with one payment, you can use a clearinghouse, most of the major super funds will offer this clearinghouse function using quick super.
- If the superfund does not offer a quick super clearinghouse and you have multiple employees and you want to pay all your SG payments to different super funds with one payment, you can use the government's FREE service using the Small Business Superannuation Clearing House (SBSCH). Eligible businesses are those with 19 or fewer employees or an annual aggregated turnover of less than $10 million. The clearinghouse can be accessed via:
The Business Portal if you are a business with an Australian business number (ABN) https://onlineservices.ato.gov.au/business/
Watch this video to find out more: https://youtu.be/NM9OOjuNQ0U
Additional Details: https://www.ato.gov.au/business/super-for-employers/paying-super-contributions/how-to-pay-super/small-business-superannuation-clearing-house/
Example: Case Study
Jacki is a hairdresser and last year she made a brave decision to open up her own hair salon, Business is great and just after six Months Jacki decides to employ a full-time hairdresser Sam, Jackie does the right thing and gives Sam a Super Choice form to fill out, Sam fills out the form declaring that AustralianSuper is the superfund Jackie pays her super into.
Jackie goes to australiansuper.com – Employers – Join AustralianSuper and fills out the Employer registration form, and Jackie receives a confirmation email containing details on how to make super payments online for Sam.
After twelve Months business is booming and Jackie employs another employee, a part-time hairdresser Joe, Jackie gives Joe the Super choice to complete, and Joe nominates REST as the superfund Jackie pays his super into.
Instead of registering as an employer with AustralianSuper and REST Jackie can register for AustralianSuper’s QuickSuper payment system and make one payment for all her employees, Jackie can also choose weekly fortnightly Monthly or Quarterly to pay and it is free.
Most major Super Funds offer quick super payment systems,
If the superfund does not offer a quick super clearinghouse and you have multiple employees and you want to pay all your SG payments to different super funds with one payment, you can use the government's FREE service using the Small Business Superannuation Clearing House (SBSCH)Eligible businesses are those with 19 or fewer employees or an annual aggregated turnover of less than $10 million. The clearinghouse can be accessed via:
The Business Portal if you are a business with an Australian business number (ABN) https://onlineservices.ato.gov.au/business/
Video Link: https://youtu.be/NM9OOjuNQ0U
WHEN DO I PAY?
You pay super guarantee (SG) for eligible employees calculated from the day they start with you. You must make the payments at least four times a year, so they are received by your employee's super fund by the quarterly due dates.
Quarterly payment due dates for super payments |
||
Quarter |
Period |
Payment due date |
1 |
1 July – 30 September |
28 October |
2 |
1 October – 31 December |
28 January |
3 |
1 January – 31 March |
28 April |
4 |
1 April – 30 June |
28 July |
For more education, the ATO also offers a free Super guarantee employer obligations course.
https://www.ato.gov.au/Business/Super-for-employers/In-detail/SG-Employer-obligations-course/