Single Touch Payroll and Super, Handled
STP filed on or before every payday. Super calculated on the correct base, visible as it accrues, and paid before the deadline. Two obligations that are easy to meet and expensive to miss.
Late Super Is Not Like Other Late Payments
Pay a supplier late and you have an awkward phone call. Pay super after the quarterly due date and the consequences are structural: the contribution stops being deductible and a separate charge process applies.
That is unusual in Australian tax. Most late payments cost you interest. This one can cost you the deduction on money you actually paid, which means you are worse off than if you had never been late by a day.
The rules and the current rate change over time and the detail is properly your accountant’s territory. Our job is simpler and more useful: make sure it never happens, by paying early rather than on time.
The practical trap. Super counts as paid when it reaches the fund, not when it leaves your bank. Clearing houses take days. A transfer made on the due date can arrive after it, and that is how careful businesses end up late.
The wrong earnings base
Super is calculated on ordinary time earnings. Some allowances are in, overtime is generally out, leave loading depends on why it is paid. Getting this wrong understates super on every pay.
Contractors who are employees for super
Someone can be a genuine contractor for most purposes and still attract a super obligation, particularly if the contract is mainly for their labour. It is one of the most commonly missed liabilities.
The quarter paid on the due date
Transferred on the 28th, arrived at the fund in early November. Technically late, with all that follows, for the sake of not paying it a week earlier.
A fund detail that was wrong all year
A member number typed incorrectly means contributions bounce or sit unallocated. The employee finds out months later, and the fix is slow.
STP filed after payday
Reporting is due on or before the day you pay. Filing a few days later each cycle is a pattern the ATO can see, and it is entirely avoidable.
Two Obligations, Made Routine
STP filed with every run
Reported to the ATO on or before payday as part of processing the run, not as a separate task that can be forgotten. Including the STP Phase 2 disaggregation of gross.
Super on the correct base
Each earnings type reviewed for whether it forms part of ordinary time earnings, and the payroll set up so the calculation is right automatically from then on.
Paid early, not on time
We schedule contributions well inside the quarter with clearing-house transit time allowed for, and confirm they have landed rather than assuming.
The liability visible as it builds
Super payable sits on your monthly pack as a separate figure so you can watch it accumulate and hold the cash rather than finding the number at quarter end.
Fund details verified
Member numbers and fund details checked at onboarding and whenever an employee changes fund, and the first contribution confirmed as received.
Year-end finalisation on time
The STP finalisation declaration lodged by the due date so your employees can complete their returns, with the payroll reconciled to the accounts first.
Before You Ask
We prepare the batch through the clearing house in your accounting software, and you authorise the payment from your own banking, the same arrangement as wages. You keep control of the money; we make sure the amount, the timing and the destination are right.
Yes, and we generally suggest it. Paying with each pay run or monthly is permitted, it smooths your cash flow instead of creating a quarterly lump, and it removes the deadline risk almost entirely. It also aligns you with the direction the rules have been heading for some years.
Sometimes, and it is not a judgement call to make casually. A contract that is wholly or principally for a person’s labour can carry a super obligation even where the person has an ABN and considers themselves self-employed. We will flag every arrangement that looks like it needs examining and recommend you confirm the treatment with your accountant, because getting it wrong is expensive in both directions.
There is a defined process for this and it is not simply defaulting them to your usual fund. New employees who do not choose a fund generally need to be checked with the ATO for an existing stapled fund before a default is used. We handle that step at onboarding, which is exactly the kind of thing that gets skipped when payroll is done in a hurry.
Let Us Run Your STP and Super
Filed every run, super scheduled before the deadline, for a fixed monthly fee. We will review how your payroll calculates super right now and tell you in writing what we find, at no charge.