The Australian Taxation Office is reminding employers to begin embracing SuperStream, the Government’s new method of transacting linked data and payments for superannuation.
The ATO states that 9 out of 10 Australian employers are making contributions to more than one superfund, and SuperStream has been created to streamline the process.
The new process enables employers to send contributions electronically, with linked data and payments said to lower the 50-100 in-house hours that the average employer spends on matters relating to super contribution.
“Put simply, SuperStream streamlines the process for employers when making contributions,” the ATO says.
“It provides a simpler, consistent method of preparing contributions, and in many cases, a single channel for interacting with multiple funds. You can expect that payment processing costs will be reduced by removing cheques and unnecessary variation in payment methods between funds.”
All employers are required to adopt SuperStream, but closing dates to make the change differ according to employee numbers.
Employers with 20 or more employees were able to adopt SuperStream from 1 July this year, but have till 30 June 2015 to make the change. Employers with 19 or less employees will be able to start making contributions using SuperStream from 1 July 2015 and will have a maximum of 12 months to change over.
The ATO has put together a short video and a step-by-step guide to help employers with the transition.
Employers can also use the free Small Business Superannuation Clearing House to make their super payments and meet SuperStream requirements.
