Background
One of our key focus areas in the ATO corporate plan 2022–23 is to expand the use of Single Touch Payroll (STP) data. This work will enable 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.
What we are doing
We are building on our use of STP by matching data from super funds with the amounts reported by employers through STP for each employee–employer relationship.
While we already use these data sets, this new approach will provide 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 be able 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 will continue our existing compliance approach of supporting employers to understand their obligations and taking action to correct issues when mistakes occur. Employers can also expect to see some new SG compliance treatments as this work matures.
What you can do now
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 an intermediary to make your super payments, like 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.