SMSF and Superannuation

Employers are required to pay superannuation for their employees and some contractors. This is defined as the superannuation guarantee levy, it is currently 11.5%, increasing on 1 July 2025 to 12%.

Superannuation is due to be paid quarterly at a minimum, though it can be paid more frequently (for example, with each pay cycle).

The current superannuation deadlines are:

Source: Super guarantee, 2025, Australian Tax Office

With the introduction of Single Touch Payroll (STP), employers now report each payroll payment that they make for their employees. This data is then used by various government agencies to assist them with information including employee superannuation to be paid. The scrutiny in this area was a result of Australian Government data showing increasing amounts of unpaid superannuation owed by businesses.

Commonly, superannuation payments are the first to stop when a business has cashflow issues. Unless an employee is actively monitoring their superannuation, they may not notice that they are not being paid and can miss out on this entitlement.

The Australian Tax Office (ATO) now has a significant amount of data that they can easily use to see which employers are paying their employees’ superannuation on time. This has resulted in increased audit activity around superannuation compliance.

To simplify the payment of superannuation, payments are now made to a “superannuation clearing house” as one transaction, with the clearing house distributing this to the various employee funds. This information is reported to the ATO and along with STP reporting, allows the ATO to identify when superannuation has been paid late and for what periods.

Employers, what to do if you have paid employee superannuation late… or have not paid.

Late payments

If you have paid employee superannuation but after the quarterly due date – for example, if the payment is due on 28 October and you paid on 15 November – you are not in the clear.

For late payments you need to notify the ATO of the late payment by lodging a Superannuation Guarantee Charge Statement. This can be downloaded from the ATO’s website here.

If you do not lodge this statement, in the event of an audit the ATO will require you to complete the statement and can impose the following penalty of:

• Nominal annual interest which you will accrue until the Superannuation Guarantee Statement has been lodged.

For instance, if you paid the superannuation one month late and the ATO does an audit on your business four years later, you could be charged interest for four years.

Therefore, as an employer it is important to ensure that employees superannuation is paid on time, or if paid late a Superannuation Guarantee Statement form is lodged as soon as possible.

Unpaid superannuation

Late or unpaid superannuation can have serious repercussions. If the ATO triggers an audit for non-payment, your business will be liable to a penalty made up of:

• Super Guarantee Charge – 200% of the original amount (on top of the original payment amount)
• nominal annual interest, which you will accrue until the Superannuation Guarantee Statement has been lodged, rather than until you have completed the payments
• administration fee of $20 per employee per quarter

It is worth noting that remission of penalties and interest is extremely rare.

If you have not paid employee superannuation and do not have the finances to do this, the best option is to lodge the Superannuation Guarantee Statement with the ATO. Completing this will significantly reduce the penalty and allows you to negotiate a payment plan for the superannuation liability.

Employees: if your superannuation has not been paid or has been paid late.

The first step is to check with your superannuation fund. As most funds have online access to this, it is relatively simple to see if your employer has been making payments for you along with the date received.

If you believe your employer hasn't met their superannuation obligations, if you feel comfortable speaking to them you can ask the following:

• How often they are currently paying your superannuation
• which super fund they are paying into
• how much they are paying (this should also be on your payslip).

If you discover that your employer has not contributed your superannuation, it is advised to report this to the ATO and the ATO will then follow this up on your behalf. You can report via the 'Report unpaid super from my employer' form, available on the ATO’s website here.