The Federal Government recently announced a one off amnesty for employers to bring their superannuation obligations up to date and pay all overdue employee superannuation.
Employers have a limited period of time to voluntarily disclose and pay overdue superannuation.
This reinforces the Government and ATO’s commitment to ensuring employers are meeting their obligations to their employees and the upcoming implementation of Single Touch Payroll from 1 July 2018 for certain employers.
The amnesty will apply for 12 months from 24 May 2018 to 23 May 2019.
Employers are eligible for the amnesty if:
• The unpaid superannuation was accrued during the periods from 1 July 1992 to 31 March 2018.
• The employer was not previously subject to an audit on those periods.
• The employer discloses and pays all unpaid superannuation amounts (together with the nominal interest charges) using the new ATO forms.
Employers who take advantage of the amnesty and voluntarily disclose and bring their superannuation obligations up to date will be able to:
• Avoid liability for a range of administration, interest, director penalties etc that would normally be imposed. The ATO will waive these penalties.
• Payments will be tax deductible for the employer (late superannuation payments are not deductible to the employer usually).
Employers will need to make the voluntary disclosure and payment through new ATO forms that have been created specifically for the amnesty.
If employers do not take advantage of the amnesty period and make voluntary disclosure, the ATO will impose even harsher penalties. A minimum 50% penalty of the unpaid superannuation would be imposed on employers and could be as high as 200% of the unpaid superannuation.
The bill has been introduced to Parliament and has not yet been passed.
Please contact us to find out more. The team at EMspire Advisory are experienced accountants in Sydney and would like to help you create, grow and succeed in business.
Please note that this information is not specific and is general in nature and cannot be relied upon as advice. Please contact us for specific advice for you and your circumstances.