Making Contributions

How much?
When?
Who?
How?
Tax deductions

How much

As an employer, you are required to pay the superannuation amount set out in the Superannuation Guarantee (SG) legislation. Current SG legislation generally requires you to pay 9% of your eligible employee’s gross salary into a complying super fund such as AUST(Q). However, if your employees work under a specific industrial award or agreement, you are obliged to pay super in accordance with the award or agreement.

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When

Currently, in accordance with the Fund’s governing rules, an employer must contribute monthly for employees who are members of AUST(Q). Contributions paid monthly will count towards employers meeting their quarterly SG obligations.

Failure to make quarterly contributions will result in the employer having to pay the Superannuation Guarantee Charge (SGC) to the ATO. The SGC includes an additional administration fee and interest to the ATO. These amounts are not tax deductible to the employer and may be in addition to any super contributions already paid to a super fund for the relevant period. Employers must pay SG contributions within 28 days of the end of a quarter to meet their liabilities for that quarter. For more information, visit www.ato.gov.au.

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Who

Most employees, whether full-time, part-time or casual, are covered by the superannuation guarantee legislation.

Exceptions include employees who are:

• Paid less than $450 in any calendar month – superannuation does not have to be provided for that month,
• Aged 70 years and over,
• Non-resident employees who are paid solely for work undertaken outside Australia,
• Under 18 years old and employed part-time (that is, employed to work for no more than 30 hours a week), or
• Paid to do work of a domestic or private nature for not more than 30 hours a week.

Contributions should continue as long as an employee is receiving or is eligible to receive pay, including when the employee is on:

• Sick leave
• Long service leave
• Annual leave
• Jury service or the like
• Paid leaves of absence
• Workers compensation

When an employee is not receiving pay (for example, parental leave or approved leave without pay) superannuation contributions are not required to be paid.

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How

You need to compete a contribution return monthly, using a number of reporting and payment options:

Reporting Options	Number Of Employees:	Payment Options
		Direct Debit	BPAY	POSTbillpay	EFT	Cheque
SuperSite	1 to 30 employees
SuperConvertor (Electronic File)	50+ employees
Payroll Reports (Paper)	1 to 100 employees
Paper Contribution Return	1 to 100 employees

Download more information about making contributions.

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Tax deductions for employer contributions

Subject to certain limits based on the age of individual employees, all employer contributions (including salary sacrifice contributions) are eligible to be claimed by the employer as a tax deduction. AUST(Q) provides employers with a Record of Contributions at the end of each financial year showing all contributions received from your business. This Record will assist you in completing your business tax return and reconciling.

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