Request stapled super fund details for employees

What you need to do from 1 November 2021

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 that is linked, or ‘stapled’, to an individual employee so that it follows them as they change jobs.

If you don’t meet your choice of super fund obligations, additional penalties may apply.

The change aims to reduce account fees by stopping new super accounts from being opened every time an employee starts a new job.

Get ready

To make sure you’re ready to request stapled super fund details, check and update the access levels of your authorised representatives in ATO online services.

If an authorised representative doesn’t:

• have full access to ATO online services, they will need to have the ‘Employee Commencement Form’ permission in order to request a stapled super fund
• need to access this service, you should remove this permission for them to protect your employees’ personal information.

What employers need to do from 1 November 2021

You 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, and
• your employee is eligible to choose a super fund but doesn’t.

You don’t need to offer a choice of super fund to some employees, but you may still need to request their stapled super fund details. This includes employees that are either:

• temporary residents
• covered by an enterprise agreement or workplace determination made before 1 January 2021.

To review each itemised step of the stapled super fund process, visit the ATO website or contact Notch Above’s team of Xero certified cloud business bookkeepers Australia-wide on 1300 015 130.

Source: ATO