There is an additional step coming into effect for all employers when onboarding a new employee.
Currently, if a new employee does not choose their own Superannuation Fund, you are able to pay their superannuation contributions for them to your default fund.
From 1st November 2021, if a new employee starts and does not choose a specific Superannuation Fund, you will need to request their ‘stapled super fund’ details from the Australian Tax Office (ATO).
A stapled super fund is an existing super account of an employee that follows them as they change jobs.
This change aims to stop your new employees paying extra account fees for unintended super accounts set up when they start a new job.
To comply with these changes, employers are likely to have to register for ATO Online Services for Businesses.
What you need to know
You may need to request stapled super fund details when:
- your new employee starts on or after 1 November 2021
- you need to make super guarantee payments for that employee, and
- your employee is eligible to choose a super fund but doesn’t.
You may still need to request stapled super fund details for some employees even though you don’t need to offer them a choice of super fund. This includes if your employees are temporary residents or they’re covered by an Enterprise Agreement or Workplace Determination made before 1 January 2021.
An employer can request stapled super fund details for your employees if you have full access to ATO Online Services for business (previously called the Business portal).
It is important that if you are accessing the information via ATO Online Services, that you review and update any online accesses to protect the privacy and safety of your employees’ personal information.
There is no change to the payment due date for Superannuation payments, they are still required to be paid within 28 days of the end of each quarter.
What you need to do from 1 November 2021
Step 1: Offer your eligible employees a choice of super fund
You need to offer your eligible 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.
There is no change to this step of your super obligations.
You cannot provide recommendations or advice about super to your employees, unless you are licensed by the Australian Securities & Investments Commission (ASIC) to provide financial advice.
Step 2: Request stapled super fund details
If your employee doesn’t choose a super fund, you may need to log into the ATO Online services for businesses and go to ‘Employee Super Accounts’ to request their stapled super fund details.
The ATO will provide your employee’s stapled super fund details after they have confirmed that you are their employer (which is automatically confirmed once either a Tax File Number Declaration for an employee is submitted or a Single Touch Payroll pay event has been lodged).
You will receive the response on-screen. You should be notified of the result of the stapled super fund request within minutes.
The ATO will notify your employee of the stapled super fund request and the fund details the ATO has provided.
Step 3: Pay super into the stapled super fund
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 details provided by the ATO.
You can only pay into a default fund, or another fund that meets the choice of fund obligations if:
- your employee doesn’t choose a super fund, and
- the ATO have advised you that they don’t have a stapled super fund.
If you have any queries in relation to the above, please contact our office on 08 9388 9744.
