SuperStream Superannuation Reporting and Payments

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SuperStream Superannuation Reporting and Payments

Posted on April 7th, 2016 by WLF

SuperStream is a compulsory Federal Government initiative that standardises the way employers will pay super contributions, and provide information about those contributions.

Under SuperStream employers will be required to report employees’ contributions electronically to the funds and pay those contributions electronically through the banking system.

This means that payment by cheque and advising contributions on paper forms will be phased out.

The start date for meeting the SuperStream requirements for small employers (19 or fewer employees) is 30 June 2016. The April to June 2016 quarter super contributions must be reported and paid using SuperStream (due by 28 July 2016).

Larger employers (20 or more employees) should have already been using SuperStream since 31 October 2015.

There are a number of options available to enable you to comply with SuperStream including:

If you already use an electronic payroll system (for example Xero, MYOB, Quickbooks, or Reckon) in most cases your software will be able to be set up to report to the funds and provide a payment file for electronic banking;
Using a superannuation online ‘clearing house’ will help you to make one payment for all the different funds your employees use;
We can assist you by tailoring a solution according to your circumstances or processing the superannuation reporting for you.

Single Touch Payroll (STP)

To reduce compliance costs the Federal Government will introduce a system that will enable employers to automatically report their PAYG Withholding when their payroll is processed.

Under STP employers will handle all payment and reporting obligations at the time of processing the payroll – hence ‘single touch’.

Using STP for each pay run the employer will be able to electronically:

Send the payment to the employee
Provide a payment slip
Advise the ATO of the payment to the employee and the details
Pay the PAYG Withholding to the ATO.

Currently PAYG Withholding and gross wages are separately reported on Business Activity Statements (BAS). Under STP the BAS may no longer be used to report wages and labels W1 and W2 may be removed.

The implementation dates are proposed to be:

From 1 July 2017 all businesses will be able to voluntarily commence STP reporting;
From 1 July 2018 employers with 20 or more employees will be required to use STP enabled software for reporting to the ATO;
There is no compulsory implementation date yet for employers with less than 20 employees.

We are able to assist you to prepare for and implement SuperStream and Single Touch Payroll. While STP is some way off, you need to get ready for SuperStream now.

Summary

It is clear to us that the ATO are pushing towards electronic means as the primary source of client communication. If you already use an accounting software package this means it is vital to upgrade to the latest version of your software and consider the major benefits of the ‘cloud’ versions. The vast majority of our clients are now moving towards or already using cloud based accounting programs and enjoying the time savings and additional efficiencies they provide.

Please contact your WLF advisor to discuss how we can help you.

Posted in News Tags: superannuation, superstream

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