Your super obligations

As an employer, you are generally required to pay a minimum of 12% of ordinary time earnings (OTE) for an employee over age 18, regardless of how much they’re paid. This is called the super guarantee (SG). For employees aged under 18, you must pay the SG if they work at least 30 hours in a week.

OTE usually include:

• pay from ordinary hours of work
• specific allowances
• paid leave
• shift loadings.

You must also pay super for independent contractors if you pay them mainly for their labour, even if they quote an ABN.

You may also have to make super guarantee contributions for an employee under an award or industrial agreement where relevant.

If you provide your employees with the option to salary sacrifice some of their income as a super contribution, the sacrificed amount does not reduce your SG contribution rate. This means you must pay the salary sacrificed amount in addition to your SG contribution.

As part of the Your Future, Your Super (YFYS) reforms, stapling commenced on 1 November 2021. Employers need to use a new process to choose the correct super fund for new employees.

Stapling is the process of linking a super account to a member (or employee). A stapled account will follow that member from job to job, preventing employees from picking up a new super fund each time they change jobs. An employee can still choose their preferred super account (including selecting your default fund) by completing a Choice of fund form. However, if they don’t do this, you’ll need to log in to Australian Taxation Office (ATO) online services and enter their details (including their tax file number) to obtain their stapled fund.

When setting up a new employee, the process for selecting the right super fund is as follows:

1. First, provide a Choice of fund form to your new employee (required).
2. If they complete their form, pay their contributions to the super account they nominated.
3. If they do not complete their form, you’ll need to obtain their stapled fund using the ATO’s search tool. This step includes employees you don’t need to offer choice to, such as:
   - temporary residents
   - employees covered by an enterprise agreement or workplace determination.

If your employee doesn’t have a super fund, the ATO will let you know, and you’ll need to open an account for them with your default fund.

Before you can request an employee’s stapled super fund details, you or your authorised representative will need to submit a TFN declaration or a Single Touch Payroll event to establish an employment relationship.

You can provide your new employee with:

• NGS Super Benefits at a glance flyer
• a Standard choice form

You can download the Product Disclosure Statement (PDS) or order printed copies from our Publications order form