Friday, October 17, 2008

The Superannuation Guarantee Charge

If you fail to pay employee super contributions, you may incur a penalty. The penalty is called the Superannuation Guarantee Charge.

The Superannuation Guarantee Charge penalty is incurred if you fail to pay the 9% of ordinary time earnings into an eligible employee's chosen super fund, or, alternatively, into the default fund, or fail to make all your payments by the quarterly cut-off dates each year.

If you incur the penalty you will have to pay the amount of unpaid super based on salary and wages, plus interest at the rate of 10% a year and a $20 per employee per quarter administration fee to the Australia Taxation Office. You will not be able to claim this charge as a tax deduction.

One way you can ensure that you will never incur the SG Charge is to use the Superconnect Clearing House. Through using the Superconnect Clearing House you can ensure timely payments, a sure method of the funds arriving at the correct super fund, and an audit trail showing payments for each employee.

To avoid incurring the Superannuation Guarantee Charge when using the Superconnect Clearing House you should make your payments 10 days prior to the closing date. This will give enough time for payments to be received by the fund(s) of choice and will ensure arrival before the due date.

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