Single Touch Payroll reporting means that the ATO is now able to see:
Which employers are not reporting
Which employers are not accruing Super, or not accruing correctly
Which employers are not paying Super (the super funds report all payments received)
The ATO as regulator of Superannuation Guarantee now has the means to be proactive in chasing employer compliance. Government has a priority – the adherence to Superannuation requirements.
We might get an amnesty period for getting Super Guarantee up to date.
The ATO discretion to reduce penalties will be diminished thereafter.
An employer must lodge the SGC forms if super is late or missing. Late payment does not stop the penalties accruing. The paperwork must be done.
The proposed Superannuation Guarantee Amnesty is not yet law!
The Bill is currently being considered by Parliament for the second time.
It is before the Senate and likely to be considered in February 2020 (politics dependant – waiting for outcome).
The ATO says not to wait for the Amnesty law
“We understand some employers may be ‘holding off’ lodging an SGC statement in anticipation of the amnesty,” Mr. O’Halloran (ATO Deputy Commissioner – Employer Obligations) said.
“We advise them not to do this as the law requires them to lodge the SGC; if they hold off and they’re notified we’re examining their affairs, they won’t be eligible for the amnesty; and if they lodge now and the law is passed, in its current form it is retrospective.”
Meaning that if employers lodge SGC forms as they are required to and:
The amnesty becomes law, then the ATO will go back and remove the penalties; or
If the amnesty doesn’t become law, then the penalties will be applied anyway, and the ATO will be applying all compliance elements of the law.
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