AU Payroll - Superannuation Maintenance

The Payroll > 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.

To allow calculation and reporting of superannuation contributions, contribution payment periods must be configured under Portal > Pay > Maintenance > Superannuation > Contribution Payment Periods. Each contribution payment period defines the following information:

• the contribution frequency which can be one of the following:

  • calendar month

  • monthly

  • quarterly

  • weekly

  • fortnightly

  • bi-monthly.

• the start and end date of each contribution period

• the day of the month on which a bi-monthly period splits each calendar month (e.g. a split day of 15 indicates that each calendar month is split into two periods on the 15th day of each calendar month; the first period spanning the 1st to the 15th calendar days and the second period spanning the 16th to the last calendar day of the month)

• the payment cut-off date that specifies the last date on which contributions for the corresponding period must be paid to the relevant fund.

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:

• Minimum monthly earnings threshold - defines the minimum amount a payee must earn in a month before superannuation contributions are to be accrued on the payee's behalf.

• Maximum quarterly earnings threshold - defines the maximum amount, per quarter, on which employer superannuation contributions must be paid by the employer. Where a payee earns more than this amount in a quarter, employer superannuation is not calculated and accrued on amounts over this value. 

• Pay code group - defines the set of pay codes that determine which earnings contribute towards the maximum quarterly earnings threshold.

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.

If SuperStream functionality is enabled on your system, it is mandatory to store a USI against each fund that is configured in the system except for those funds that are flagged as Self Managed Superannuation Funds (SMSFs). SMSFs do not have a USI and are identified by their ABN. 

Refer to www.superfundlookup.gov.au to find a fund's USI.

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:

• payment clearing houses

• SuperStream gateway providers

• your business's default superannuation fund.

If SuperStream functionality is enabled on your system, it is mandatory for each fund to be linked with a service provider. The fund itself may be a service provider, in which case the fund must still be linked to a service provider record that captures the service provider details.

A fund can be linked to multiple service providers if different service providers are used to interact with the fund. For example, different pay companies belonging to your business might have arrangements with different service providers even though they may interact with the same fund. At the time of generating a SuperStream file to register fund members and remit the fund members' superannuation contributions, the relevant service provider can be selected based on the list of service providers that are linked to the fund.

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.

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:

• the relevant pay agreement

• the name of the super fund to which the agreement is linked

• the contribution rate rule to be used to accrue employer super contributions

• the validity period of the link.

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:

• if the rate rule contribution basis is fixed per period, the payee accrues the superannuation once per period

• if the rate rule contribution basis is a percentage of earnings, the payee accrues the superannuation each time they are paid.

If a payee works multiple jobs during the same period and the jobs are subject to different pay agreements, which are linked to the same superannuation fund, the payee will accrue the superannuation once per job/agreement combination.