In today’s blog, we’ll guide you through using the small business superannuation clearing house. A valuable service provided by the Australian government through the Australian Taxation Office. This service makes paying super for your employees easier than ever. Let’s get started:
Eligibility: Are You Eligible to Use the Clearing House?
Yes, you are, if your business has:
- either 19 employees or fewer employees, or
- an annual aggregated turnover of less than $10 million.
Don’t forget that you must meet one of these conditions every time you use the service. If you are no longer eligible to use a small superannuation clearing house, you may be required to make other arrangements to meet the requirements of SuperStream.
About the Clearing House
The Australian government provides the clearing house online service for free through the Australian Taxation Office. With this, you can pay super for all your employees in a single payment. The clearing house will then distribute the funds to each employee’s super fund based on your instructions. With the clearing house, you can:
- Easily nominate a regular amount for each employee or adjust the amount when you make a payment.
- You’ll also fulfil your super guarantee obligations as long as your payment and instructions adhere to the clearing houses, terms and conditions.
- Plus you can pay online to meet super stream requirements.
- Access records of your past super contributions.
The Process of Using the Clearing House for the First Time
When you use the clearing house for the first time, you need to register the first time you use the clearing house. To do this, you are required to provide information about:
- Your business, your employees,
- Your employees’ choice of fund
- Your default fund – in this situation, the payments will go in case the employee doesn’t choose a fund
- An authorised person can use the clearing house on your behalf, such as a bookkeeper.
Make sure to print and share the clearing house privacy statement with your employees.
How to Access the Clearing House?
Accessing the clearing house: If you have an Australian business number (ABN), you are allowed to access the clearing house through online services for business. You can even authorise someone else like a staff member to use the clearing house on your behalf.
You can access online services for business by signing in with your myGovID. If you’re new to online services, you’ll need to link your myGovID to your business in RAM. If you’re an individual employer with an ABN or withholding payer number WPN, you can access the clearing house using your myGovID account linked to ATO online services.
Non-individual employers with a WPN, such as school canteens or sporting clubs have a slightly different process.
How to Make Payments?
Super guarantee payments are due quarterly on specific dates, submit your payments and instructions through the clearing house. But keep in mind the impact of planned maintenance on processing times. Follow these steps to make payments:
- Calculate total super payments
- Use online services for business or ATO online services to access the Clearing House
- For payment distribution, enter the instructions
- Make a single electronic payment to the Clearing House
- Clearing House distributes payments to each employee’s super fund
Keep in mind, that payments may take up to seven business days to reach employee super fund accounts.
Payment Errors
Incorrect employee details can lead to payment rejection, and if this happens, correct the information within seven business days and the ATO will resend the payment to the fund.
Help and Support
If you encounter issues, remember, that there are clear house troubleshooting terms and conditions and the ATO community forum. And that concludes our assistance on using the small business superannuation clearing house. This service streamlines your super payment process, ensuring your employee’s financial futures are secure.
Conclusion
You can get a simplified super payment process using a small business superannuation clearing house. If you’re ready to get started or have questions, then you can get in touch with Reliable Melbourne Accountants as we are here to assist you every step of the way.