The Government has released for consultation the draft Treasury Laws Amendment (Taxation and Superannuation Guarantee Integrity Measures) Bill 2018 which is intended to protect workers’ superannuation entitlements and modernise the enforcement of the superannuation guarantee.
UPDATE: The Treasury Laws Amendment (2018 Measures No. 4) Bill 2018 was introduced into the House of Representatives on 28 March 2018.
The Act was given Royal Assent on 6 February 2019.
The draft laws will extend Single Touch Payroll to all employers, regardless of the number of employees, from 1 July 2019, to improve the reporting of superannuation obligations and improve the Australian Taxation Office’s ability to get real time information about an employer’s compliance.
Single Touch Payroll reporting currently requires the real-time reporting of withholding payments and amounts withheld from them, employee salary or wages and ordinary time earnings, and superannuation contributions to the Commissioner at the time these amounts are withheld or paid by employers.
In addition, from 1 July 2018 superannuation funds will commence ‘event-based’ reporting to the ATO of payments they receive for employees from their employer.
The amendments empower the Commissioner to issue directions to employers to undertake specific actions where the Commissioner is satisfied that there has been a failure to comply with an obligation or a failure to pay a charge.
The key features of the education direction are as follows:
• The Commissioner can issue a direction to an employer if the Commissioner reasonably believes the employer has failed to comply with a superannuation obligation.
• The person who has received the direction must complete the approved course and provide proof of completion to the Commissioner.
• Failure to comply with the direction can result in administrative and/or criminal penalties.
The key features of the direction to pay superannuation guarantee charge are as follows:
• The Commissioner can issue a direction to an employer if the employer has failed to pay an amount of superannuation guarantee charge, or an estimate of superannuation guarantee charge, for a quarter.
• The employer must ensure that the amount of the unpaid liability is paid within the period specified in the direction.
• Failure to comply with the direction can result in criminal penalties.
A taxation officer is permitted to make a record or disclose protected information to an individual who is or was an employee where the record or disclosure is information that relates to a failure or a suspected failure by the individual’s employer or former employer to comply with the employer’s obligations under the SGAA 1992 or the TAA 1953 as it relates to the SGAA 1992 in relation to the employee. The information or disclosure cannot relate to the general financial affairs of the employer.
Schedule 3 amends the TAA 1953 to require employers to report salary sacrificed amounts paid to their employees’ superannuation funds under the Single Touch Payroll reporting rules.
