From 1 November 2021, if you have new employees start, you may have an extra step to take to comply with choice of fund rules if they don’t choose a super fund. You may now need to request their ‘stapled super fund’ details from ATO.
A stapled super fund is an existing super account which is linked, or 'stapled', to an individual employee so that it follows them as they change jobs.
If you don't meet your choice of super fund obligations, additional penalties may apply.
The change aims to reduce account fees by stopping new super accounts from being opened every time an employee starts a new job.
To make sure you're ready to request stapled super fund details, check and update the access levels of your authorised representatives in ATO online services.
If an authorised representative doesn't:
have full access in ATO online services, they will need to have the 'Employee Commencement Form' permission in order to request a stapled super fund
need to access this service, you should remove this permission for them to protect your employees’ personal information.
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 our Online services and go to ‘Employee Super Accounts’ to request their stapled super fund details. Your agent or other tax professional can do this for you. We will provide your employee’s stapled super fund details after we have confirmed that you are their employer. If we provide a stapled super fund result for your employee, you must pay your employee’s super using the stapled super fund details we provide you. 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.
Comments