What we are doing
We are building on our use of Single Touch Payroll (STP) by matching data from super funds with the amounts reported by employers through STP for each employee–employer relationship. This enables us to create a view of employees' superannuation guarantee (SG) data provided by all super funds and employers in one place. By doing so, we can follow up employer non-compliance more proactively.
While we already use these data sets, this provides us with an improved ability to identify a range of behaviours that drive non-compliance. We can tailor our interventions for the behaviours we see, including late payment, underpayment, and non-payment of super guarantee.
We will use this data to:
- contact employers who are not meeting their obligations earlier, with improved messaging
- identify trends of incorrect reporting or issues related to information reported
- take action to help employers and funds to get it right
- improve any systemic data quality issues.
Most importantly, we continue to support employers to understand their obligations and take action to correct issues when mistakes occur.
What you need to do
STP data is now a critical component of the tax and superannuation systems and is being used in real time for several purposes. That’s why it’s more important than ever to:
- keep good records – this is not only a legal requirement, but it also makes good business sense. It allows you as an employer to make sure that what you report is correct
- ensure your reporting and payments are timely and accurate. If you find that you make a mistake, take action to correct it as soon as you notice it. This will mean that we don’t contact you unnecessarily
- understand and meet your payroll obligations
- remember that SG payments need to be received by the employee's super fund on or before the due date. If you use a commercial clearing house, it may take longer for the payment to get to the employee's account. Ensure you know how long this takes, so it is not late
- check that your payments are SuperStream compliant. SuperStream is the way employers must pay SG contributions to funds
- keep up to date on the latest announcements on tax and superannuation law and policy
- subscribe to receive our alerts and news that is relevant to you.