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Stapled super funds for employers

How to request stapled super fund details for new employees who don't choose a super fund.

Last updated 2 July 2026

What is an employee's stapled super fund

A stapled super fund is an existing super account linked, or 'stapled', to an individual employee so it follows them as they change jobs.

This aims to reduce account fees and avoid new super accounts being opened every time an employee starts a new job. If you don't meet your choice of super fund obligations, the super guarantee charge may apply.

For more information, download our Stapled super funds – Reference guide for employers (PDF, 0.29MB)This link will download a file.

When to request stapled super fund details

Whether you need to request stapled super fund details depends on the date your employee started working for you:

If your employee started working for you after 1 November 2021

You must request your employee's stapled super fund details from us if:

  • they are eligible to choose a super fund but don't (this includes independent contractors who are employees for super guarantee purposes)
  • they are not eligible to choose a super fund.

You can request stapled super fund details from us via ATO online services. For new employees, you can make a request once they accept the offer of employment and until they have chosen a fund.

If your employee started working for you before 1 November 2021

You don’t need to request a stapled super fund if your employee started working for you before 1 November 2021. You can pay super into their chosen fund, or your employer default super fund if there is no valid chosen fund.

Before you request stapled super fund details

Before you make a stapled super fund request, you need to:

Offer your employees a choice of super fund

You need to offer your eligible employees a choice of super fund. You can do this before or at the same time as requesting their stapled super fund details.

Most employees are eligible to choose what fund their super goes into. If your employee doesn't choose a super fund, you need to request their stapled super fund details from us.

Check access permissions for ATO online services

You or your authorised representatives can request stapled super fund details using ATO online services.

Check and update the access levels of your authorised representatives in Access Manager, so that they have either:

  • full access in ATO online services
  • custom access including the Employee commencement form permission (make sure to remove this permission when no longer needed, to protect your employees’ personal information).

Tax practitioners can request stapled super fund details for you in Online services for agents.

You need to meet the same requirements if you're using payroll software to request stapled super fund details.

Establish an employment relationship

You need to establish a 'link' to your employee before you can request their stapled fund details. This is called an employment relationship.

You can establish an employment relationship by submitting either a:

Make sure the link is established in time for you to make the request before your super contributions are due.

Once you have an employment relationship to your employee, you can request their stapled super details.

Troubleshooting for establishing an employment relationship

In some circumstances you won't be able to establish an employment relationship to your employee before you need to request their stapled super fund details from us.

See the following guidance for common scenarios:

Independent contractors entitled to super guarantee contributions

Your independent contractors might not be included in your STP pay events, which means you won't have an employment relationship with them in our systems.

You need to request an independent contractor’s stapled super fund details using the secure mail function in ATO online services.

When you submit the request, include:

  • Topic: Pay as you go
  • Subject: Withholding – forms – superannuation
  • Description: include reference to ‘Stapled super fund request for independent contractor’
  • Attachments 

Make sure you submit all the required information as missing information will delay your request.

Incomplete employee information on pay slips

Sometimes you don't have enough information from your employee to run an STP pay event, because:

  • you have no TFN declaration
  • your payroll software won’t allow you to lodge a pay event without super details.

We have worked with the Fair Work Ombudsman to provide the following guidance to help employers to meet both the choice of fund rules and pay slip requirements in this situation.

You are exempt from including the name or number of a new employee's super fund on their pay slip if:

  • the pay slip is required to be given to the employee within 14 days, commencing on the first day the employer pays an amount to the employee for work, and
  • by the time the pay slip is given to the employee
    • the employee hasn't provided you with a completed Superannuation standard choice form, and
    • we haven't notified you or your agent whether we are satisfied there is a stapled fund for the employee and, if there is, the details of that fund.

For more information, see Pay slipsExternal Link.

Using payroll software

If your payroll software:

  • allows you to leave the super fund information blank for the first pay slip, you can do this and submit your pay event
  • requires you to include super fund information, you should include details in the fund name field indicating it is pending a stapled super fund request (for example, 'Pending stapled super fund request').

You must still include your super liability and the amount of any qualifying earnings for the period.

This will establish the employment relationship link so you can make a stapled super fund request and determine the employee's relevant super fund details.

Employment relationship not established

In most cases, submitting a TFN declaration or STP pay event establishes that you have an employment relationship or link to your employee. Once this link is established, you can submit a stapled fund request for that employee.

If you follow this process and receive the following stapling request outcome, ‘We cannot confirm an employment relationship’ – there may have been problems processing the TFN declaration or STP pay event. The steps to fix this depend on when you will lodge your next STP pay event.

  • If you will lodge another STP pay event before the super guarantee due date – wait until you lodge again. The next day, submit another stapled super fund request for the employee.
    • If the outcome is still ‘We cannot confirm an employment relationship’ – phone us on 13 10 20 for assistance.
  • If you won't lodge another STP pay event before the super guarantee due date – phone us on 13 10 20 for assistance.

Request stapled super fund details

You can request stapled super fund details in either:

If you need stapled super fund details for more than 100 employees you can make a bulk request.

ATO online services

To request stapled super fund details in ATO online services, you, or an authorised representative, need to:

  1. Log in to ATO online services for businessExternal Link.
  2. Navigate to the Employees menu.
  3. Select Employee super account.
  4. Select Request to open the form.
  5. If this is your first request for the employee's stapled fund details, select the No option under the Requesting an alternative super account heading.
  6. If you have previously requested a stapled super fund account for the employee and the account was unable to receive super contributions, select the Yes option under the Requesting an alternative super account heading.
    • The results of this request should exclude super fund account details that were notified in previous outcomes submitted in the 6 months before.
  7. Enter your employee's details, including their:
    • TFN (you can enter an exemption code where an employee can't provide their TFN, but this could result in processing delays)
    • full name, including ‘other given name’ if known
    • date of birth
    • address (residential or postal) if TFN not given.
  8. Read and click the declaration to sign it (or to request stapled super fund details for additional employees, tick the box under More employees to request?).
  9. Submit your request.

Registered tax or BAS agents can also complete this for you in Online services for agents.

You should be notified of the result of the stapled super fund request (on-screen) within minutes, but in some cases it may take longer (up to 24 hours).

Our online system uses rules based on the regulations to work out and return a stapled super fund in response to a request.

  • We notify your employee of your request and the fund details we provided. If an authorised representative made the request on your behalf, we notify you of the outcome of that request.
  • We monitor the service to ensure employers are using it appropriately and making genuine requests for stapled super fund details. If you are using the service incorrectly, such as requesting information for individuals who are not currently employed by you, we may remove your access.

To avoid the super guarantee charge, you must pay super guarantee contributions to the:

  • employee's chosen fund
  • stapled super fund we provide in our response to your request if they haven't chosen a fund
  • employer default fund if the employee hasn't chosen a fund and there is no stapled fund.

Unable to access online services

If you're unable to access online services, phone us on 13 10 20 (or +61 2 6216 1111 for overseas callers) to request details of a stapled super fund.

Before providing information over the phone, we must establish the identity of the person making the request. If you don't have access to Online services for business, the primary contact for your business needs to contact us to give you authority to request stapled super fund details on their behalf.

Payroll software

Your payroll software may allow you to make requests directly from the product. Contact your software provider:

  • to find out if it is available to you
  • for instructions on how to use the service in your payroll software.

You need to grant permission to your payroll software provider to request stapled super fund details on your behalf.

Make a bulk request

You can complete a bulk request form if you:

  • need to request stapled super fund details for over 100 new employees at once
  • have an employment relationship link with each of the new employees.

Bulk requests have a service standard of up to 14 business days. Under Payday Super, your first super contribution for a new employee must reach their super fund within 20 business days after their first payday.

You can download and complete the Stapled super fund bulk request template (n75759.01-2026) (XLSX, 469KB)This link will download a file

You, or an authorised representative, can submit the bulk request form through the secure mail function in ATO online services, noting:

  • you should only submit one form per request
  • if you are a member of a consolidated group, each entity must submit their own forms separately
  • only an authorised person can submit a request.

When you submit the request, you need to include:

  • Topic: Pay as you go
  • Subject: Withholding – forms – superannuation
  • Description: include reference to ‘Stapled super fund bulk request'

Once your file is processed, you will receive a response through the secure mail function within online services. The response contains the file submitted to us with the outcomes of the stapled super fund request for each employee.

We are implementing a new secure mail option for bulk stapled fund requests. The new topic and subject will be published once available. Check the instructions on the Stapled super fund bulk request template (n75759.01-2026) (XLSX, 469KB)This link will download a file for any updates before submitting future requests.

You will not be able to request alternative stapled super fund details via a bulk request. These will need to be lodged via ATO online services.

Status of the bulk request process

The bulk request process is an interim service that may be decommissioned in the future.

We encourage you to discuss your options with your payroll software provider.

The payroll software solution is available for software providers to incorporate into their software. It allows you to request stapled super fund details from within payroll software, rather than making separate requests via ATO online services.

When to pay super

From 1 July 2026 your super guarantee contributions need to reach your employee's super fund within 7 business days after payday. This timeline is extended to 20 business days for the first eligible contribution you make:

  • for a new employee
  • to a new complying super fund for an existing employee (after you have stopped making contributions to another super fund for them).

If you haven’t made a request when you should

If you contributed to a super fund your employee did not choose, and you have not made a stapled super fund request, you are liable to pay the super guarantee charge, including a choice loading.

You should immediately request a stapled super fund for your employee. Begin making contributions to the fund that is returned in response to your request.

If the fund will not accept your super guarantee payment

Before you pay a contribution to a new fund for an employee for the first time, you must send a message to the fund to confirm the member's account can accept contributions. This is called a member verification request.

You may generate a member verification request via your payroll software or the clearing house you use to make your payments.

You need to ask for an alternate super fund to make the super guarantee payment to if the stapled super fund we have provided:

  • advises they cannot accept contributions in response to your member verification request
  • rejects your super guarantee payment.

You can do this by:

If you have requested an alternate fund and the online request gives you the same stapled super fund details, you will need to phone us on 13 10 20 to request an alternate fund.

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