What the voluntary disclosure statement is for
You can lodge a voluntary disclosure statement for unpaid or late super guarantee contributions.
Voluntary disclosure statements are voluntary. Making a voluntary disclosure statement can reduce your final super guarantee charge by decreasing the administrative uplift amount. It can only be lodged before you receive an assessment from us for a QE day. (The QE day is the day you make a payment of qualifying earnings).
Voluntary disclosure in the first year of Payday Super
In the first year of Payday Super (for QE days from 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027), we are supporting employers who try to do the right thing.
If you make a mistake you should fix it as soon as possible. If it is a missed payment, the best way to do this is to pay any outstanding super to your employee's fund, and keep a record of what happened and how you corrected it.
We will not apply compliance resources to assess employers who we consider low risk – that is, if:
- the employer has attempted to pay super for each payday on time and in full
- some or all of their contributions are not received on time and able to be allocated to the employees' funds
- the employer fixes errors as soon as they can.
We will not apply compliance resources to review the actions of employers who are considered low risk, even if they submit a voluntary disclosure.
You can factor this into your decision about whether to lodge a voluntary disclosure statement in the first year of Payday Super.
The voluntary disclosure statement for 2026–27 has been streamlined to recognise our practical compliance approach.
For more information see Getting it right: compliance in the first year of Payday Super.
How to lodge a voluntary disclosure statement
Voluntary disclosure statements for Payday Super must be made in the approved form, which is available at Super guarantee voluntary disclosure statement.
Follow the instructions to download, complete and lodge the form. You can lodge online or by mail.
This is the streamlined form for paydays in the period 1 July 2026 to 30 June 2027. We will publish more details about the form for paydays from 1 July 2027 onwards in due course.
How voluntary disclosure and late contributions reduce the administrative uplift amount
When we assess you for the super guarantee charge, the maximum administrative uplift you will pay is 60% of your total individual final super guarantee shortfalls and total individual notional earnings for a QE day (payday).
The administrative uplift percentage is reduced if you make a voluntary disclosure statement before we assess you. It can be reduced by as much as 40 percentage points if you lodge your voluntary disclosure statement less than 30 days after the QE day. The percentage is further reduced (potentially to nil) if you have not received an ATO-initiated assessment for super guarantee charge in respect of a QE day during the past 2 years (any assessments prior to 1 July 2026 are ignored).
Late contributions reduce the final super guarantee shortall on which your administrative uplift amount is calculated. (Late contributions are contributions you make after the due date but before we assess you for the super guarantee charge.) So if you miss a due date for super contributions, you should still pay the outstanding contributions to your employee's super fund, as long as you have not received a notice of assessment from us.
For more information see What happens if you don't pay super correctly.
Example: Effect of voluntary disclosure and late contributions on administrative uplift
Juliet has 100 employees. She pays each of them $1,000 of qualifying earnings on 4 November 2027 (the QE day). Each employee is entitled to $120 of super guarantee.
Under Payday Super, the super guarantee contributions should be received by the employees' funds, with enough information to allocate them, by 15 November 2027.
Juliet pays contributions in full and on time for 70 of her employees. For the remaining 30 employees she does not pay contributions in full and on time.
How much super guarantee charge Juliet is liable for depends on what she does next.
Scenario 1: Juliet makes a voluntary disclosure and pays late contributions
In this scenario, Juliet pays the $120 contribution for each of the remaining 30 employees on 10 December 2027 (25 days late). These contributions, totalling $3,600, are received by the employees' funds on the same day.
When Juliet’s super guarantee charge for the QE day is assessed, the maximum she may be liable for is $39.58, consisting of:
- total individual final super guarantee shortfalls = $0 (as all contributions have now been paid to the funds)
- sum of all individual notional earnings components = $24.74
- administrative uplift of up to $24.74 × 60% = $14.84.
Juliet lodges a voluntary disclosure statement on the day after her super guarantee contributions are received by her employees' funds (25 days late). As this is less than 30 days after the QE day, she is eligible to have her administrative uplift percentage reduced to 20% (down 40 percentage points).
Juliet's administrative uplift amount would then be $24.74 × 20% = $4.95, a reduction of $9.89. Her total super guarantee charge would be $24.74 + $4.95 = $29.69.
If Juliet has not previously received an ATO-initiated assessment for super guarantee charge, her administrative uplift percentage may be further reduced to nil.
Scenario 2: Juliet makes a voluntary disclosure but does not pay late contributions
In this scenario, Juliet does not pay any late contributions for the remaining 30 employees. When she is assessed for the super guarantee charge (50 days after the on-time period), the maximum super guarantee charge she may be liable for is $5,839.44, consisting of:
- total individual final super guarantee shortfalls = $3,600
- sum of all individual notional earnings components = $49.65 (based on 50 days)
- administrative uplift of up to ($3,600 + $49.65) × 60% = $2,189.79.
If Juliet lodges a voluntary disclosure on the same day as in the first scenario (25 days late), she is eligible to have her administrative uplift percentage reduced to 20%. If she has not had an ATO-initiated assessment for a previous QE day it is further reduced to 0%.
If Juliet's administrative uplift percentage was 20% the administrative uplift amount would then be ($3,600 + $49.65) × 20% = $729.93, a reduction of $1,459.86. Her total super guarantee charge would be $3,649.65 + $729.93 = $4,379.58.
End of exampleAfter you lodge a voluntary disclosure statement
We may make an assessment of super guarantee charge based on the information you provide in your voluntary disclosure statement. We may not assess low-risk employers for QE days in the first year of Payday Super.
In some cases, we may need to contact you for further information. It is important that you keep records supporting the information in your voluntary disclosure statement, so you can provide these records if we request them.
Until you get a notice of assessment of super guarantee charge you should continue to pay your late contributions to your employee's super fund. These late contributions will count towards the earliest QE day with a base super guarantee shortfall for that employee, which reduces any super guarantee charge for that QE day.
If you have not received an assessment of your super guarantee charge for a QE day, you do not need to resubmit your voluntary disclosure statement. We will contact you if further information is required.