Australia has one of the best functioning retirement savings systems and safety nets in the world, and a large part of that is the superannuation guarantee. Employers of all sizes, from small businesses, with one or two employees, to multinational conglomerates with a workforce of thousands, all are required to pay a percentage of ordinary time earnings toward their employees superannuation funds.
But for small businesses and medium sized enterprises, the administration aspect of paying superannuation can be time consuming, frustrating and confusing.
The recently launched Superstream program aims to fix those problems.
What is it?
Superstream is a way of making the payment of your superannuation obligations as a business owner or manager much simpler. The most basic way to look at Superstream is a way to link payments and reporting.
That is a little like the jump from having to manually adjust items on a hard copy paper ledger, as compared to changing the inputs in an computerised spreadsheet and having totals auto-calculate for you. It’s pretty clear which approach is simpler.
What Are the Benefits?
For employers, Superstream provides a range of benefits. The first is that no matter how many different super funds your employees belong to, you can use a single portal to interact with all of them. Superstream also greatly increases the amount of automation in the system and as a result reduces the amount of double entry and record keeping that employers have to do.
The other business benefit to adopting Superstream is the fact that data is more timely and information is more current, meaning that your business planning is more accurate at all times.
Who Uses Superstream?
Superstream is a compulsory tool for all superannuation industry participants including self managed super funds, APRA regulated funds as well as all employers who pay super contributions.
The system is what business and employees have been asking for: a simple, streamlined way to comply with super obligations, while also protecting the employees right to receive their legally guaranteed super payments.
When Does it Start?
For businesses with 20 employees or more, Superstream has been active since July 1 2014. But for the much larger population of businesses with 19 employees or less, Superstream came into effect from 1 July 2015.
Like with a lot of new systems or tools, change can seem daunting. But with ample support tools available for free from the ATO and other sources, the transition can be much smoother. And of course, if you are in Western Sydney, including Bankstown, Liverpool and Edmonston Park, and you’d like professional, friendly help with your taxation and superannuation obligations as an employer, small business or medium sized enterprise, ATP tax [link to About page] is here to help.
We invite you to call us on 1300 829 484 during business hours, or email us.
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