Employers get ready – there’ll soon be an extra step involved when it comes to hiring new employees – if they don’t choose a super fund.
You may now need to request their ‘stapled super fund’ details from the ATO. A stapled super fund is an existing super account of an employee that follows them as they change jobs. This change aims to stop your new employees paying extra account fees for unintended super accounts set up when they start a new job.
You may need to request stapled super fund details when:
• your new employee starts on or after 1 November 2021
• you need to make super guarantee payments for that employee, and
• your employee is eligible to choose a super fund but doesn’t.
What you need to do from 1 November 2021
Step 1: Offer your eligible employees a choice of super fund
You need to give your eligible new employees a Super standard choice form and pay their super into the account they tell you on the form. Most employees are eligible to choose what fund their super goes into.
There is no change to this step of your super obligations.
Step 2: Request stapled super fund details
If your employee doesn’t choose a super fund, you may need to log into the ATO Online services and go to ‘Employee Super Accounts’ to request their stapled super fund details. If you don’t have online access then Activ8 can do this for you.
The ATO will provide your employee’s stapled super fund details after they have confirmed that you are their employer.
If the ATO provides a stapled super fund result for your employee, you must pay your employee’s super using the stapled super fund details they provide you.
In most cases, a request can be made after you’ve submitted a TFN declaration, or a Single Touch Payroll (STP) pay event linking the new employee to your business. Responses will usually be received through the online portal in minutes.
Step 3: Pay super into a default fund
You can pay into a default fund, or another fund that meets the choice of fund obligations if:
- your employee doesn’t choose a super fund, and
- we have advised you that they don’t have a stapled super fund.
Remember, an employer cannot provide recommendations or advice about super to its employees, unless the business is licensed by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) to provide financial advice. Penalties may apply if your business fails to meet the “choice of super fund” obligations.
Full details can be found here on the ATO website.