Stapled super fund compliance for employers
From 1 November 2021, if you have new employees start, you may have an extra step to take to comply with choice of fund rules if they don’t choose a super fund. You may now need to request their ‘stapled super fund’ details from the ATO.
A stapled super fund is an existing super account which is linked, or ‘stapled’, to an individual employee so that it follows them as they change jobs.
What an employer needs to know
An employer may need to request stapled super fund details when:
- Your new employee starts on or after 1 November 2021
- You need to make super guarantee payments for that employee
- Your employee is eligible to choose a super fund but doesn’t
You may still need to request stapled super fund details for some employees even though you don’t need to offer them a choice of super fund. This includes if your employees are either:
- Temporary residents or
- They’re covered by an Enterprise Agreement or Workplace Determination made before 1 January 2021
You must meet your choice of super fund requirements and any stapled super fund obligations by the quarterly due date or you may face penalties.
What an employer needs to do from 1 November 2021
Step 1: Offer your eligible employees a choice of super fund.
You need to give your eligible new employees a Super standard choice form and pay their super into the account they tell you on the form. Most employees are eligible to choose what fund their super goes into.
There is no change to this step of your super obligations.
Step 2: Request stapled super fund details
If your employee doesn’t choose a super fund, you may need to log into our online services to request their stapled super fund details. A tax practitioner can also do this for you.
You’ll be able to request your employee’s stapled super fund after you have submitted a Tax file number declaration or Single Touch Payroll pay event linking you to them. There is no limit to the number of requests you can make.
The ATO will provide your employee’s stapled super fund details after it has confirmed that you are their employer.
If the ATO provides a stapled super fund result for your employee, you must pay your employee’s super using the stapled super fund details the ATO provide you.
Stapled super fund contributions
If the stapled super fund account provided by the ATO cannot accept contributions for the employee, you should make another request for the employee’s stapled super fund via ATO online services.
Step 3: Pay super into a default fund
You can pay into a default fund, or another fund that meets the choice of fund obligations if:
- Your employee doesn’t choose a super fund
- The ATO has advised you that they don’t have a stapled super fund