Easier Employee Superannuation Contributions for Small Business
In a move to make the payment of Superannuation contributions simpler for small business owners The Australian Government is introducing a free online Clearing House Service. The service will be available to small businesses with less than 20 employees from July 2010. The Small Business Superannuation Clearing House (the Clearing House) will be administered by Medicare Australia and allows small businesses to pay their employees’ superannuation contributions to a single location. The Clearing House will not only save time for businesses but should reduce the red tape and costs often incurred when meeting superannuation guarantee obligations, particularly for businesses that would normally be required to make super contributions into numerous different funds.
As a small business owner you can register your employees’ superannuation fund details and contributions with the Clearing House for processing. Your employees’ superannuation contributions will then be distributed to the relevant funds registered by the Clearing House.
The benefits of the Clearing House service for small businesses are:
- It has no cost.
- Only one electronic payment will need to be made to the Clearing House. All employee superannuation contributions will be made in a single transaction to a single location.
- Minimised time and paperwork required to pay employee’s super contributions. Once set up, your employees’ preferences will be pre-populated for you. You will only have to enter the contribution amount each time or you can nominate a regular contribution amount for an employee.
- It makes it easier to meet your superannuation guarantee obligations.
- Reporting capabilities let you obtain a record of your contribution history whenever you need it.
Small businesses that use the clearing house service will have their super guarantee obligations discharged when payment of the correct amount is made to the clearing house and it will also manage the employers’ choice of fund obligations. The super clearing house will be funded through the $16.1 million allocation that was made available in the 2008-09 Budget.
Registration is due to start in May 2010 and will need to be completed in two stages. Business details must be registered with Medicare, you will then receive a user ID and password enabling you to log on to the Clearing House to finalise the registration. This is done by completing the details for each employee, once this is done the details will be pre-populated each time a contribution is made.
Here at The Quinn Group we can assist you with any queries you might have with regard to the Clearing House service. For this, and any other superannuation or small business enquiries contact our experienced team of accountants. Click here to submit an online enquiry or call us on 1300 QUINN (1300 784 667) or on +61 2 9223 9166 to make an appointment.
