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AccountRight Plus and Premier, Australia only

Generally, if you pay an employee $450 or more before tax in a calendar month, you have to pay superannuation on top of their wages.

The minimum you must pay is called the Superannuation Guarantee.

  • The super guarantee is currently 9.5% of an employee’s ordinary time earnings.
  • You must pay super guarantee contributions to your employees' chosen superannuation funds at least four times a year, by the quarterly due dates (learn how to pay super).
  • Super guarantee contributions are not reportable on your employees' payment summaries, but other super contribution types may be (such as salary sacrifice). Check the ATO website for help working out if a contribution is reportable.

Additional payments can be contributed to an employee's super fund, including:

Superannuation payroll categories

AccountRight comes with a set of superannuation payroll categories which you can assign to your employees to calculate and track their super payments. This includes a Superannuation Guarantee category which is set up to calculate the 9.5% super guarantee payments.

You can modify these default super categories to suit your needs, or create new ones.

To access the super payroll categories, go to the Payroll command centre and click Payroll Categories then click the Superannuation tab. 

default super categoriy list

Click the zoom arrow to view the details of a superannuation payroll category, or click New to create a new one.

Here are the details of a superannuation payroll category:

Superannuation information window with lines pointing to each section

A

Linked Expense Account is the account to which you charge superannuation expenses. The Default Employer Expense Account you specified when setting up payroll appears as the default.

We recommend you create an expense account called Superannuation Expense and select it as the linked expense account.

(Only applicable for Employer Additional, Productivity Superannuation, Redundancy Superannuation or Superannuation Guarantee category types.)

B

Linked Payable Account is the liability account to which the superannuation amounts accrue. The Default Tax/Deductions Payable Account you specified when setting up payroll appears as the default.

We recommend you create a liability account called Superannuation Liability and select it as the linked payable account.

C

Select the appropriate contribution type from the list. Note that:

  • The Salary Sacrifice (deduction) contribution type is deducted from an employee’s gross pay, that is, before PAYG withholding tax is calculated. It reduces the employee’s gross taxable income.
  • The Employee Additional (deduction) and Spouse (deduction) contribution types are deducted from the employee’s net pay, that is, after PAYG withholding tax is calculated.
  • The Employer Additional (expense), Productivity (expense), Redundancy (expense) and Superannuation Guarantee (expense) contribution types are paid in addition to the employee’s gross pay.

Once a superannuation category has been created (and saved), the Contribution Type cannot be changed.

DIf you want the superannuation amount accrued to appear on employees’ pay advice, select the Print on Pay Advice option.
E

Calculation Basis can be:

  • User-Entered Amount per Pay Period allows you to enter an amount at the time the pay is processed each pay period. Choose this option if the amount varies regularly or if you want to use the amount you have entered in an employee’s standard pay details.
  • Equals x Percent of allows you to enter a percentage of a payroll category (such as wage, deduction or superannuation) or a percentage of all wage categories (by choosing Gross Wages or Federal Wages ). The superannuation will be calculated until the limit is reached.
  • Equals x Dollars per allows you to enter a specified amount per pay period, per hour, per month or per year until the specified limit is reached.
F

In the Exclusions field type the amount by which the eligible wage is reduced before the superannuation is calculated. 

For example, an employee with a gross wage of $1000 per month and an exclusion of $100 will have the superannuation calculated only on $900.

G

Superannuation limits can be used to place a ceiling on the superannuation calculation. 

For example, for an Employee Additional superannuation deduction of $30 per pay period and a limit of 2% of gross wages, a pay with gross wages of $1000 yields superannuation of only $20 (i.e. 2%). 

Limit can be one of the following three choices:

  • No Limit signifies no limit to the superannuation calculated for this category.
  • Equals x Percent of results in the maximum superannuation calculated being a percentage of wage, deduction or superannuation payroll categories. For example, an Employer Additional superannuation contribution might be $20 per pay period, but this should not exceed a maximum of 20% of the employee’s base salary.
  • Equals x Dollars per results in the maximum superannuation calculated being a fixed amount per pay period, per hour, per month or per year. For example, a Salary Sacrifice superannuation might be 5% of the employee’s gross wages up to $1000 per year.
H

If this superannuation calculation is only payable if wages exceed a specified amount per month (such as for superannuation guarantee contributions), enter this amount in the Threshold field. 

For example, if the threshold is $450 per month, then superannuation is not payable until the employee’s gross wage exceeds $450 per month. 

When determining whether the gross wages on a pay exceeds the threshold per month, other pays issued that month are included.

Additional super payments

Additional super payments can be either:

  • a business expense (paid by the employer, on top of the 9.5% super guarantee payments), or
  • an employee deduction (deducted from the employee's after-tax pay).

Here's how to set these up:

 

To set up employer additional super

EMPLOYER

To set up employer additional super

There's a superanuation category in your company file called Employer Additional which you can customise for your needs, or you can create a new super category for this purpose.

  1. Go to the Payroll command centre and click Payroll Categories. The Payroll Category List window appears.

  2. Click the Superannuation tab.
  3. Click the zoom arrow to open the Employer Additional superannuation category, or click New to create a new category and name it accordingly.
  4. Select the applicable Linked Expense Account and Linked Payable Account. Check with your accounting advisor if you're not sure which accounts to select.

  5. If you're creating a new super category, set the Contribution Type to Employer Additional (expense).
  6. If you want these accrued super payments to appear on pay slips, select the option Print on Pay Advice.
  7. Set the Calculation Basis:
    • User-Entered Amount per Pay Period allows you to enter an amount at the time the pay is processed each pay period. Choose this option if the amount varies regularly or if you want to use the amount you have entered in an employee’s standard pay details.
    • Equals x Percent of allows you to enter a percentage of a payroll category (such as wage, deduction or superannuation) or a percentage of all wage categories (by choosing Gross Wages or Federal Wages ). The superannuation will be calculated until the limit is reached.
    • Equals x Dollars per allows you to enter a specified amount per pay period, per hour, per month or per year until the specified limit is reached.
  8. (Optional) Set a Limit for these super payments. Limits can be used to place a ceiling on the superannuation calculation.
    Limit can be one of the following three choices:
    • No Limit signifies no limit to the superannuation calculated for this category.
    • Equals x Percent of results in the maximum superannuation calculated being a percentage of wage, deduction or superannuation payroll categories. For example, an Employer Additional superannuation contribution might be $20 per pay period, but this should not exceed a maximum of 20% of the employee’s base salary.
    • Equals x Dollars per results in the maximum superannuation calculated being a fixed amount per pay period, per hour, per month or per year.
    Here's our example Employer Additional superannuation payroll category which is set up to contribute and extra $200 each pay period:
    Example employer additional super category setup
  9. Click Employee and select the employees to whom this category applies. 
To set up employee additional super

To set up employee additional super

There's a superanuation category in your company file called Employee Additional which you can customise for your needs, or you can create a new super category for this purpose.

Superannuation contributions on top of the 9.5% superannuation guarantee payments may be classified as Reportable Employer Superannuation Contributions (RESC). If so, these amounts will need to be reported on the employees' payment summaries.

For clarification about reportable employer superannuation contributions, check with your accounting advisor or see the ATO guidelines.

If you're unsure about how employee additional super should be set up for your specific requirements, check with your accounting advisor or ask the experts on the community forum.

  1. Go to the Payroll command centre and click Payroll Categories. The Payroll Category List window appears.

  2. Click the Superannuation tab.
  3. Click the zoom arrow to open the Employee Additional superannuation category, or click New to create a new category and name it accordingly.
  4. Select the applicable Linked Payable Account. Check with your accounting advisor if you're not sure which account to select.

  5. If you're creating a new super category, set the Contribution Type to Employee Additional (deduction).
  6. If you want these accrued super payments to appear on pay slips, select the option Print on Pay Advice.
  7. Set the Calculation Basis:
    • User-Entered Amount per Pay Period allows you to enter an amount at the time the pay is processed each pay period. Choose this option if the amount varies regularly or if you want to use the amount you have entered in an employee’s standard pay details.
    • Equals x Percent of allows you to enter a percentage of a payroll category (such as wage, deduction or superannuation) or a percentage of all wage categories (by choosing Gross Wages or Federal Wages ). The superannuation will be calculated until the limit is reached.
    • Equals x Dollars per allows you to enter a specified amount per pay period, per hour, per month or per year until the specified limit is reached.
  8. (Optional) Set a Limit for these super payments. Limits can be used to place a ceiling on the superannuation calculation.
    For example, for an Employee Additional superannuation deduction of $30 per pay period and a limit of 2% of gross wages, a pay with gross wages of $1000 yields superannuation of only $20 (i.e. 2%).
    Limit can be one of the following three choices:
    • No Limit signifies no limit to the superannuation calculated for this category.
    • Equals x Percent of results in the maximum superannuation calculated being a percentage of wage, deduction or superannuation payroll categories.
    • Equals x Dollars per results in the maximum superannuation calculated being a fixed amount per pay period, per hour, per month or per year.
    Here's our example Employee Additional superannuation payroll category which is set up to contribute and extra $200 each pay period:
    Example employee additional super category setup
  9. Click Employee and select the employees to whom this category applies. 

  Superannuation FAQs


Why is super not showing on a pay slip?

Why is super not showing on a pay slip?

If super isn't showing on an employee's pay slip, the amount earned by the employee for the month may be less than than $450 which means no super will be calculated. This is because in the Superannuation Information window for the Superannuation Guarantee contribution category, the wage threshold before superannuation is calculated is set to $450.

When the employee receives their next pay and their gross earning are above $450, superannuation will be calculated on the total gross amount of wages/salary earned for the month. The superannuation amount will "catch up" because total gross wages/salary for the month are now greater than $450.

Super fund name not showing on the pay slip? Ensure the field Superannuation Fund Name is included on the pay slip form you use. Learn more about adding text and fields to your forms.

Can I delete a superannuation category?

Can I delete a superannuation category?

You can only delete a superannuation category if it hasn't been used in an employee's pay.

  1. Go to the Lists menu and choose Payroll Categories.
  2. Click the Superannuation tab.
  3. Click the zoom arrow to open the superannuation category to be deleted.
  4. Go to the Edit menu and choose Delete Superannuation.
super