Super choice rules for new employees change from 1 November – What employers need to know

Employer obligations for identifying appropriate superannuation funds for new employees commences on 1 November 2021. While it is just one added step in the existing process, it will be an important one to ensure that the recent changes to the superannuation legislation deliver the benefits to employees that have been promised.

From 1 November 2021, where a new employee does not provide their superannuation fund details to the employer, an extra compliance step is now required to be undertaken by the employer.

The employer will be obliged to contact the ATO to access information on whether or not an employee has a “stapled super fund”. If the ATO advise that there is a stapled fund for the employee, then the employer must pay superannuation into that fund. However, if there is no stapled fund and the employee has not provided superannuation details, an Employer may then contribute the required superannuation for that employee to a complying default fund as they do now.

This change aims to stop your new employees paying extra account fees for unintended super accounts set up when they start a new job.

Here  are the steps you will need to follow when a new employee does not provide you with their superannuation fund details:

1. Login to ATO portal, click on the ‘’Employees/Business’’ section and finally the ‘’Employee super accounts’’. See below for example.

(Please note, the ATO have advised this function will only be available from 1st November).

 

2. Enter the employee’s details and you should receive a response from the ATO immediately showing the results

3. Process the superannuation payment to the employee’s stapled super fund account.

Click here to be directed to the ATO website for further information.

If you have any queries around this change, please contact your usual Mazars advisor, the author or one of our specialists via the form below or on:

Brisbane - Nathanael Lee

Melbourne - Christopher Cicutto

Sydney - Dean Newman

+61 7 3218 3900

+61 3 9252 0800

+61 2 9922 116

Author: Jonathan Cicutto & Tiffany Chua

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Published:  27 October 2021

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