The Portal > Pay > Maintenance > Superannuation area is used to configure maintenance options that determine how employer superannuation contributions are accrued during the pay process.
Superannuation maintenance is divided into the following areas:
Contribution payment periods
Eligibility rules
Funds
Contribution rate rules
Links to agreements.
Each of these areas is described in detail below.
Contribution Payment Periods
Superannuation contributions accrued on behalf of payees under the Superannuation Guarantee scheme are generally required to be paid to the relevant superannuation funds on a quarterly basis. In such cases, a quarterly contribution payment period applies. However, under specific industry awards or agreements, it may be mandatory for an employer to pay accrued superannuation contributions to the relevant funds on a monthly basis, in which case a monthly contribution payment period applies.
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When a superannuation fund is created, a contribution payment period must be selected to specify the contribution periods that apply to the fund. Therefore, the applicable contribution payment periods must be created before funds are created (for more information, see Funds below).
Eligibility Rules
Eligibility rules define payees' eligibility thresholds for accruing employer superannuation contributions under superannuation guarantee scheme. The eligibility rules defined the following thresholds:
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Different sets of eligibility values can be defined for different periods. It is possible to configure any number of eligibility rule sets in advance and the system automatically applies the correct set of eligibility rules based on the validity period of each rule set. Eligibility rules are configured under Portal > Pay > Maintenance > Superannuation > Eligibility Rules.
Funds
The superannuation funds against that are to be available for accrual and payment of superannuation contributions must be created in the system.
Superannuation funds are created under Portal > Pay > Maintenance > Superannuation > Funds. For each superannuation fund, the following information must be recorded in the system:
name of the fund as it will appear wherever a super fund can be selected on a record throughout the system
legal reporting name of the fund, as it will appear on payslips, payment summaries and reports
Superannuation Product Identification Number (SPIN) of the fund (refer to www.superfundlookup.gov.au to find a fund's SPIN)
Australian Business Number (ABN) of the fund (refer to www.superfundlookup.gov.au to find a fund's ABN)
Superannuation Fund Number (SFN) of the fund
contribution payment period that applies to the fund.
SuperStream Details
If SuperStream functionality is enabled on your system, additional information must be captured against each fund that you configure in the system. The additional information is populated in SuperStream files, which contain information required to register payees with the fund and that remit the payees' superannuation contributions to the fund in a format that is complaint with the SuperStream standard.
This additional information required to be captured to facilitate SuperStream compliance is described below.
Fund USI
Under the SuperStream scheme, each commercial superannuation fund has a Unique Superannuation Identifier (USI) that is used to uniquely identify the fund. A USI is distinct from a Superannuation Product Identification Number (SPIN) but in some cases a fund may use the SPIN as the fund's USI.
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If SuperStream functionality is enabled on your system, it is still possible to record the USI of a fund for information purposes but it is not mandatory to do so.
SuperStream Service Providers
A SuperStream service provider facilitates the forwarding on of superannuation contribution remittance to the fund. A service provider may also facilitate the payment of superannuation contributions to the fund. Examples of service providers can include the following:
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SuperStream service providers must be created in the system before a service provider can be assigned to a fund. For more information, see SuperStream Service Provider Maintenance. |
Electronic Service Address
An electronic service address is the URL (web address), IP address or an Australian Taxation Office (ATO) endorsed alias that identifies where the SuperStream service provider(s) must send electronic messages when interacting with the fund. The electronic service address is optional as service providers may be able to determine the relevant address based on the USI or ABN of the fund. However, if you know the fund's electronic service address, or the service provider requires that you provide the electronic service address of the fund, the relevant address can be captured against the fund.
Banking Details
A service provider my facilitate the remittance and payment of superannuation contributions or the service provider may facilitate the remittance of the contributions only. If the latter is the case, payment of the remitted contributions must be made directly to the fund via EFT, BPay or direct credit. Details of the direct payment must be populated in the remittance that is sent to the service provider, including the details of the bank account into which the payment was made because the service provider will not know the payment details.
If one or more of the service providers linked to the fund facilitates remittance of contributions only, it is mandatory to specify the fund's banking details to identify the account name, account number and the BSB of the bank account into which superannuation contribution payments are made when contributions are paid directly to the fund. This information will allow the fund to reconcile the contribution remittance that it receives from the service provider with the contribution payment it receives directly from your business.
Allowing Negative Contributions
By default, negative contribution amounts are not supported by the SuperStream standard. Therefore, when a SuperStream file is generated to remit superannuation contributions, payees who have a negative contribution total for the contribution period that is being remitted will be excluded from the remittance by default. However, a fund can choose to accept negative contribution totals in the remittance it receives, in which case a flag can be set to on the fund so that payees with negative contribution totals will not be excluded from the remittance.
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If the fund does not accept inclusion of negative total contributions in the contribution remittance, negative adjustments to payees' contributions to the fund must be dealt with via an alternative process as mutually agreed between your business and the fund. |
Contribution Rate Rules
When a payee is assigned a super fund via the Portal > Pay > Payee > Payee Maintenance > Payee Entry > Superannuation Details screen, a contribution rate rule must be selected to determine how super is to be accrued and the rate which it is to be accrued. The contribution rate rules that are available when adding the payee superannuation details must be configured under Portal > Pay > Maintenance > Superannuation > Contribution Rate Rules.
Contribution rate rules determine the following:
the pay code group that defines the earnings on which employer super is to be calculated
the contribution basis, which can be one of the following:
percentage - contributions are accrued based on a percentage of a payee's earnings
fixed - contributions are accrued as a fixed amount per pay period, week, day worked or hour worked
greatest amount - contributions are accrued as a percentage of a payee's earnings or as a fixed amount, depending on whichever amount is greatest for the pay period, week, day worked or hour worked.
Links to Agreements
Certain industrial awards or site agreements may mandate that employer superannuation contributions must be paid to a specific superannuation fund as opposed to the employer's default fund or a payee's fund of choice. Where this is the case, the relevant superannuation fund can be linked to a pay agreement under Portal > Pay > Maintenance > Superannuation > Link to Agreements.
If a pay agreement that is linked to a super fund is assigned to a job order, employer superannuation contributions that are accrued by the payee placed in the job order will be attributed to the super fund that is linked to the pay agreement.
Each link between a super fund and an agreement specifies the following:
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Alternatively, a Payee Default flag can be set on a superannuation/pay agreement link to indicate that the agreement mandates a specific rate of accrual but the accrual can be to a payee's chosen superannuation fund. In such cases, the superannuation/pay agreement link does not specify a target fund for the accrual. Instead, the fund that is flagged as the agreement default fund on a payee's superannuation details is used as the fund to which contributions are accrued.
Before a super fund can be linked to a pay agreement, the relevant pay agreement must be created in Portal > Rates and Rules.
Accrual of Superannuation when Payees Work Multiple Jobs
If a payee works multiple jobs during the same period and the jobs are all subject to the same pay agreement, which is linked to a superannuation fund, the following will apply:
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