If you’re a small business employing 19 or fewer employees, you will no doubt be aware that you need to be using SuperStream no later than 30 June 2016. This follows the October 2015 deadline for employers with 20 or more employees.
The ATO (Australian Taxation Office) has been very active in communicating the rollout via email in recent weeks and is also hosting dedicated SuperStream online information sessions.
The good news is that employers are reporting that SuperStream has reduced the time that they spend on super, each cycle, by an average of about 70% or 1.5 hours and has collectively saved small businesses up to $50 million per year.
“With only two quarters left until SuperStream becomes mandatory, now is a good time for employers to adopt SuperStream and familiarise themselves with it before the deadline,” says Philip Hind, the ATO’s National Program Manager.
He advises that employers should be collecting their employees’ TFNs and their funds’ unique super identifiers (USIs) and entering it into their systems ahead of the next quarterly due date on 28 January to ensure that everything is running smoothly.
Fund USIs can be found on employees super statements or by calling the relevant fund. These details are also available on the Super Fund Lookup website.
The ATO step-by-step checklist to help employers prepare can be found at www.ato.gov.au/SuperStreamChecklist
Clients can also contact the team here at Taggart & Partners on 07 3391 1188 and we’ll be happy to assist where we can.