Setting up your details as an employer
When you register for the Small Business Superannuation Clearing House (the Clearing House), you will need to provide your business’ details as well as those of your employees. It will take a few minutes to enter each of your employees’ details and you will only need to do this once.
Employee details
The employee listing shows all of the employees linked to your business.
You will be asked to enter an employee start date during the registration process. When you make superannuation contributions for your employees, we will use the employment start and termination dates to determine which employees appear on the page.
The employee listing shows all of the employees linked to your business. If you need to add a new employee or edit an existing one, log in to the Clearing House, select Employee from the menu navigation panel, then select Employee listing. From here you can choose to either add a new employee or edit details for an existing one. For more details about this process, have a look at the reference guide for small businesses.
The employment start date is also used by superannuation funds to see whether a new employee has started with your business. It will also help you reduce the possibility of duplicate accounts being opened for your employees.
To remove or ‘end date’ an employee, you will need to enter a termination date for that person.
Details of previous employees will remain visible in the Clearing House on the employee listing. This gives you the flexibility to reactivate employees if required.
You can still register an employee with the Clearing House even if you do not have their tax file number.
If all your active employees do not appear on the Employee Listing, you may not have entered the employee's superannuation fund bank account details or, you may have entered a date in the employee termination field. You will need to update information for your employee by selecting the Employee details tab on the left hand side of the screen.
Default fund
A default fund (or the employer-nominated superannuation fund) is a superannuation fund to which you pay your employees' superannuation guarantee contributions if they do not choose a superannuation fund. This will be the superannuation fund named as the 'employer-nominated superannuation fund' on the standard choice form you give to your employees.
In general, every employer should have a default fund. When you register your employees in the Clearing House system you will have to specify each employee’s superannuation fund. Often employees will use your default fund for their payments. If you have set up a default fund, it is a single click to assign the default fund for each employee.
Things to know about a default fund:
- you need to have an arrangement in place with a superannuation fund before they can be your default fund
- you pay your employees’ superannuation into a default fund when they have not chosen a superannuation fund
- when an employee's chosen superannuation fund cannot accept a payment, the default fund should be used
- if you have more than one default fund, call us on 1300 660 048
Our reference guide for small businesses can help you set up an employer default fund.
Superannuation Product Identification Number
A Superannuation Product Identification Number (SPIN) is a number a superannuation fund allocates its products. For example, XYZ fund may have a specialist product on offer that encourages fast growth. The fast growth product may have a SPIN to help identify it from other products available from XYZ fund.
Generally a SPIN will be in a format that includes the name of the fund and a series of numbers (for example, XYZ1256AU). It should be provided by your employees on their standard choice form.
When you have entered a SPIN, the name of the product and the associated superannuation fund will display.
See the SPIN directory for a list of Superannuation Product Identification Numbers.
Bank account details
You will need to provide details of a bank account to the Clearing House. The reason for this is if the amount deposited to the Clearing House does not match the payment instructions you provided or if the nominated superannuation fund cannot accept the payment, we will return the money to your nominated bank account. This will allow you to either re-deposit the correct amount or update your instructions.
Some of the reasons a superannuation fund may reject a deposit include:
- registration is not complete with the relevant superannuation fund for either the employer or employees
- the employee's information you provided is incorrect and the superannuation fund is unable to find the employee in their records
- the employee has left the superannuation fund and no longer holds an account with the superannuation fund
- the superannuation fund has closed the product and is no longer receiving contributions from its members.
You will also need to add bank account details for your employees’ nominated superannuation funds.
If the status in the bank details column reads:
- provided by fund—bank account details have already been provided by the superannuation fund and no action is required
- add bank details—you are required to enter the bank details. Once entered, these details will be saved in the Clearing House for future use. For example, a superannuation fund may have a separate bank account per member
- edit bank details—you can amend the bank account details you have previously entered.
Our reference guide for small businesses is available to help you set up an employee superannuation fund including adding bank details.
Choice funds/employee superannuation fund
A choice fund is the superannuation fund nominated by your employee.
Most employers are required to provide a standard choice form to their employee within 28 days of their starting work. Employees can nominate their chosen superannuation fund either on the standard choice form or by written notice to the employer. If you are using the Clearing House, you will have met your obligations if you pass this information on to the Clearing House with 21 days of receiving it from your employee or before you make your next contribution.
For more information about offering employees a choice of superannuation funds call 131 020 or visit the Australian Taxation Office website.
A reference guide for small businesses is available to help you set up an employee superannuation fund. It will also show you how to add or update an employee's superannuation fund preference.
If an employee has selected their own superannuation fund, this information should be provided on the choice form. To conduct a more accurate search you can also use a SPIN.
You can also use the Super Fund Lookup website to find a superannuation fund's ABN. The Super Fund Lookup website contains information about all superannuation funds.
If you are having difficulty entering the ABN for a superannuation fund, you may not have entered the correct ABN. For example, superannuation funds often have trustees and administrators who also have their own ABNs. Check the details you have entered are correct and re-submit employees.
Most superannuation funds require a registration process to create the member's account. Please contact the nominated superannuation fund directly before making your first payment for an employee to make sure that the registration process is complete.
You may be asked to provide a member number for your employee's nominated superannuation fund. A member number can be either optional or mandatory depending on the fund’s requirements. If the member number is mandatory, the system will advise you when you enter your employee super fund set-up details. If you do not have these details, check with your employee or their superannuation fund.