How to process Superannuation contributions (SGC) using Superstream

From October 2015, employers with more than 20 employees and who make direct superannuation contributions for employees are obliged to:

• Remit superannuation contributions using electronic payments.
• Report contribution information electronically using the SuperStream format directly to each super fund or using a superannuation data clearing house.

Information on SuperStream can be found on the ATO’s website.

Insol6 has been certified to produce the SuperStream output file format.

 

When to Pay and report to the superfund and when to pay and report to ATO directly

From an insolvency perspective, the timing of superannuation liabilities are important in working out how to deal with superannuation contributions. Liabilities may relate to:

• the current financial reporting quarter.

This includes pre-appointment liabilities for the current reporting quarter and any superannuation liabilities relating to trade on activities when continuing to operate a business after appointment. Superannuation liabilities relating to current and future quarters from either pre-appointment liabilities or trading on activities are paid directly to the super funds.

• outstanding contributions relating to the previous quarter

This includes any overdue and unpaid superannuation. Superannuation liabilities relating to unpaid superannuation in previous periods is reported to and paid to the ATO.

 

Overdue SGC liabilities paid to the ATO

There has not been any change to the way overdue superannuation guarantee charge (SGC) liabilities are reported and paid to the ATO. Outstanding contributions reported using this method attract administration fees and interest, and have a different basis for calculating superannuation (to include overtime).

Missed and late Super Guarantee payments information, including calculator, spreadsheet and payment instructions can be found at the ATO here

 

Add new Super Fund and/or Super Fund Manager

You can add super funds and super fund managers from the Employees card when entering their super fund details.

For information on how to enter Super funds and Super Fund Managers please click here

 

Reporting superannuation contributions - transferring data to super funds 

You have a choice of producing a direct payment SAFF file or going through a clearing house (CH method). OzEdi is the only clearing house Insol6 currently deal with. The differences between the two methods are summarised below.

Comparing using a clearing house with sending files directly to each fund

• For both reporting methods, you need to record the employee’s account and fund information. How to do this is explained later in this article.
• When using a clearing house, once you have entered payroll entries, you can send the SAFF containing the employer contributions to the clearing house. The clearing house will validate the contributions, make sure that you have nominated the correct fund details and provide you with a list of payments you need to make (containing payment reference numbers). They tell you the payments to make to which payees and bank accounts and with which references. How to process the payments is explained later in this article.
• When using the direct reporting method, you need to enter the superannuation fund payments and include a separate entry line allocated to each employee before creating the SAFF. Insol6 will validate that the payments match the superannuation expenses for each employee for the period. Each payment will need to have a *uniquely identifiable payment reference number. 
• When using a clearing house you don’t need to allocate the super fund payments to each employee. You just need to make summary payments to each super fund with the advised *reference number.
• Both methods require electronic payments of superannuation, but clearing houses may accept AMEX or direct cheque payments as well as electronic payments.
• Using the direct reporting method, you will need to send a separate SAFF directly to each super fund and use the lodgement process appropriate for each fund. Some super funds are able to extract only the relevant SAFF contributions for a particular fund.
• When using a clearing house, once you have made the super fund payments, you can release the data and the clearing house will forward the data to each fund. 
• There is a small cost for using a data clearing house.

*Payment Reference Number

Payments to super funds need to use a uniquely identifiable reference number so that the fund is able to match the money received with the contribution member.

A valid reference number is in the following format: [ABN of employee][mmyy][001] where [001] is the sequence number of the contribution paid to the fund each quarter. The first contribution for a fund for an employee will be sequence number 001.

The payment reference number needs to conform to the PNR format, otherwise a red validation message will appear when you are attempting to create the SAFF using the direct reporting method.

NB: A super fund may give you a different payment reference number to the above.

Make Super Payments

Using the Direct Payment Method you will need make the payments first, then run the SAFF.

Using the Clearing House you will create the SAFF file and send to the clearing house prior to making the payments.

For instructions on making superannuation payments withheld to either the ATO of Super Fund Manager please click here

 

Preparing the SAFF report

The Clearing House method saves a lot of work, but requires enrolling with the OzEdi clearing house. To use either method you navigate to

❶Reports and Forms

❷Payroll Reports

❸ SuperStream SAFF Wizard as follows:

Make Superfund Payments Directly option will create a SAFF based on the information entered. You will need to make the super fund payment prior to creating the SAFF.  See here for more information on making the payments.

You can review a report at this stage to review what will be entered in the SAFF file. As previously mentioned you will need to prepare a separate SAFF for each super fund. You can Select the super fund from this screen

If there is missing or incorrect information you will be notified after clicking next on this screen. These issues will need to be resolved before you can continue to produce the SAFF.  For example:

You can double click on the error message to access the screen the data needs to be updated in.

One you have resolved any issues you are ready to finalise the wizard and produce the SAFF.

You will want to change the Save In Folder path. Click on the Ellipsis and select the appropriate folder to store the file. Then click finish. 

You can review your SAFF file via Document Management prior to sending to the super fund. You will need to contact the super fund regarding how they prefer to receive the file.

Clearing House Method

Register for a Clearing House

First you must register with a clearing house. The default clearing house used by Insol6 is Ozedi and is available from the drop down menu in the wizard. To register with Ozedi you can run the Super Stream SAFF wizard and when you get to the options window you will be told you are not registered and to head to http://www.ozedi.com.au/

Click on Services > Superstream from the ozedi home page. Sign up to Ozedi direct.

Once you enter the registration URL the first time you use the superstream wizard it will be stored for future use.

When using a clearing house you will create the SAFF first before preparing the payments. The clearing house will tell you who to pay, how much and supply the Payment Reference number.

Once you have saved the file you click into Ozedi and upload the file. 

NB The file name must not contain spaces. eg ABC file.csv will not be accepted. It should be ABC_file.csv or ABC-file.csv.

For instructions on uploading and using the Ozedi portal please refer to their user guide found here Assuming your Ozedi portal is setup correctly the Upload a Contribution File starts at page 11. 

As per the Ozedi instructions you can download an excel spreadsheet of the payments you are required to pay which contains all the necessary information for your EFT payment. (page 14-16 of Ozedi guide).

Editing the CSV formats

If you directly edit and save CSV formatted files using Microsoft Excel, then this application will automatically change the formatting of cells causing the format of the SAFF to be invalid.

For example, date fields will be formatted 1/1/15 rather than YYYY-MM-DD. If for any reason you wish to edit the SAFF, then use a notepad editor such as Notepad ++.

Note

Where there hasn't been a previous SuperStream lodgement, the period is from the job start date to either the job end date or the current date if the end date hasn't been entered. This will cover non-trading type scenarios for remitting the super from dividends.

In respect to the dates that need to be entered in section 2. Remitted, if no payment has been remitted:

If you haven't entered any payments it won't make any difference and should just be the same period as the withheld.  If payments have been made then it should also cover the period in which the payments have been made.

Summary of information required to populate SAFF files

The following table charts the information required for SuperStream reporting.

 

ENTITY	DATA	COMMENTS
Employee
Employer	Payee ABN	Added in job information.
	Email address	Current user’s email.
	Telephone	Current user’s telephone number.
	Bank account information	BSB number, account number, account name text.
Payment	Payment reference number (PRN)	The PRN enables the receiving super fund to match the contribution with the payment received. The PRN is recorded in the remittance transaction.
	Transaction lines are coded to the superannuation liability.
	Each entry line is allocated to an employee.	Where payments are made directly to the fund without using a clearing house.
Super fund	Fund USI or ESA	A fund USI is a reference number used by APRA funds to uniquely identify each fund. An ESA is for non-APRA funds including SMSFs. This is the unique electronic service address for delivery of data.
	Bank details	Need to be provided for non-APRA funds and SMSFs.

The following articles in the links below covers how to pay superannuation for employees and may be of interest to you.

How do I pay preferred superannuation dividends for employees

Processing an adjustment for SuperStream deductions