Pay Superannuation

Paying superannuation for your employees

Paying your employees' superannuation is easy! You can do this in two ways:

1. Upload the Superstream file to your chosen clearing house or
2. Use the Beam integration to pay your employee's superannuation from the platform.

Super payments to your employee's funds are due quarterly (28 days after the end of the quarter), however, you can choose to pay super more frequently if you wish. To understand your obligations to paying your employee's superannuation, refer to the ATO's Super payments due dates.

In this article, we will cover:

• Configuring your superannuation settings
• How to pay super through a clearinghouse
• How to pay super through the platform via Beam
• Superannuation reporting
• FAQs

  Permission warning: It is important to keep in mind that admin super users will have access to employee superannuation data by default, regardless of any search restrictions applied to their admin profile. For more information on specific permissions, click here. 

Superannuation setup & settings

When you access the superannuation page in your platform for the first time, you will be asked to provide the accrual method, payment frequency and the date on which you last paid your superannuation.

  Please note: The last processed date specified will be used to move any batches that have already been paid into the processed tab. These batches will be flagged as processed.

To access the Superannuation page:

1. In the quick menu, navigate to Payroll > Superannuation.
2. As this is the first time you are accessing this page you will need to choose your superannuation accrual method, payment frequency and the last period that your super was processed.
   
   Optionally, if you would like to make any changes to these settings, select Superannuation Settings to be taken to the Superannuation Settings page. 
   
   

   

3. Once you have set the above options, select 'Set previously processed date'. New batches will appear here once the next pay cycle is processed. 
   
   

   

General set up & settings

It is important to review your superannuation settings before you start paying your super so you can determine things such as your pay frequency, Superstream file format and whether you want to allow employer additional super contributions or salary sacrifice. 

  Please note: These settings affect all entities within your foundU platform.

To access your Superannuation Settings:

1. In the main menu, navigate to Payroll Settings > Superannuation. 
2. Here you will see your superannuation settings. You will have the following settings to configure:
   • Super Accrual Method - Choose whether you want the super accrual method to be cash basis or accrued.
     • The cash basis method records super payments by payment date.
     • While the accrual method records super payments by period end date. 
   • Default Super rate (%) - The default super rate percentage. This cannot be lower than the minimum super rate percentage. 
   • Default Super Fund - Select your business's default super fund. 
   • Pay superannuation on every hour for under 18 employees - Enable this setting to allow super to be paid on every eligible hour of work completed, rather than requiring a threshold of 30 hours per week.
   • Allow employer additional super contribution - Choose whether admins can make additional employer contributions to their employee's superannuation fund.
   • Allow employees to create or edit superannuation salary sacrifice - Choose whether employees can choose to make additional pre-tax contributions to their superannuation through a salary sacrifice arrangement.
   • Superannuation Payment Period - You can choose the frequency of whether you will pay your super; these are:
     • Quarterly - per the superannuation periods. 
     • Monthly - by choosing monthly, your batches will be divided by months instead of quarters, but they will still be due 28 days after the end of the quarter.
   • Superstream Format - This is the format of your Superstream file used for uploading to your clearinghouse. Your clearinghouse will tell you which format they require the file to be provided in.
   • Superannuation Employer ID - This is the unique identifier that is provided by your superannuation fund.
   • Superannuation File Reference - This is a unique identifier that is provided by your superannuation fund. It is used in the Superstream file that you upload to your chosen clearinghouse to ensure that your payments are correctly processed.
   • Allow editing of superannuation guarantee within payslips - When enabled, the superannuation guarantee amount on payslips can be edited, overriding the default calculation. 
3. Once you've made the relevant changes, select Save Settings. 

      

Beam set up & settings

Beam is a free clearinghouse that is integrated into foundU to simplify and expedite the process of superannuation payment.

You can set up and configure Beam per entity within your platform and choose to process all or some of your entities as needed.

  For detailed instructions on setting up Beam please visit this helpful guide.

Pay superannuation via a clearinghouse

If you have chosen to pay super through your chosen clearinghouse, this can be easily managed from your platform. 

  Please note: The first time you access this page, you'll be prompted to set your accrual method, payment frequency and the date on which you last paid your superannuation.

Please see our Superannuation setup & settings section above if you have yet to configure your super settings. 

To pay your employees super via a clearinghouse:

1. In the quick menu navigate to Payroll > Superannuation.
2. In pending, your superannuation batches will be displayed per paying entity. You can also use the filter to adjust your view to a specific date range, paying entity or employee.
   
     Tip: You can click on the overdue, due soon, or upcoming badges in the top-right to quickly filter your view.
   
   
3. To process a batch, click on the 'Review' button located to the right of the batch. You will be able to view the paying entity, period and total super amount of the batch. Additionally, you can filter the batch by specific employees or by any super issues, such as error or warning type.
   
   
   
     Tip: You can also review the superannuation details for an individual employee by clicking on the arrow to the right of the employee. This will show you the following totals for the individual employee:
   • Super guarantee
   • Super salary sacrifice
   • Employee personal
   • Employer additional
   • Total
     
     
4. When you're ready to process the batch, select 'Superstream' from the floating action bar at the bottom of the page.
   
     Tip: You can optionally select individual employees to process by clicking the checkbox next to their name before downloading the Superstream file.
5. Select the appropriate Superstream option from the below options and click download.
   • Download Standard - Includes only non-Self Managed Super Funds in the download
   • Download All - Includes all employees in the batch (both SMSF & standard)
   • Download SMSF - Includes only employees with Self Managed Super Funds in the download
     
     
6. A CSV file will then be downloaded and ready to upload into your clearinghouse.
7. Select 'Mark Processed'. This will move the batch to the Processed tab.
   
   

   

8. Once you have confirmation of payment from your clearinghouse, click Actions > Paid to change the status of your batch to Paid.
   
     Tip: From the Actions menu, you can re-download the Superstream file or export it as a CSV.
   
   

Pay superannuation via Beam

Beam is a free clearinghouse that is integrated into foundU to simplify and expedite the process of superannuation payment. You can set up and configure Beam per entity within your platform, and choose to process all or some of your entities as needed.

  Please note: If transitioning to Beam, please ensure that any batches that you do not want to pay through Beam have been processed before registering with Beam.

If you have connected Beam to your platform, follow the steps below to pay Super to your employees using Beam. 

To pay your employees super via Beam:

1. In the quick menu navigate to Pay > Superannuation.  
2. Select Review on the batch you wish to process. Next, select the Beam option from the floating action bar at the bottom of the page.
   
   
   
     Please note: After clicking on Beam, if your Beam is not set up, you'll be prompted to do so, starting with selecting an entity. Ensure to enter a refund account otherwise, you'll be prompted to finish reviewing your superannuation settings first. 
   
   
3. You'll then be prompted for a pay method e.g. direct debit, EFT or BPAY.
   
     Please note: If using EFT or BPAY as your payment method, please ensure the payment details for the batch are used exactly when making the payment transfer. This is how Beam can link the payment to the relevant batch. For your convenience, there is a copy button next to each detail.
   
   
4. The batch will move into the Processed tab. In the Status column you will see:
   • Awaiting Payment - Payment is waiting to be sent. Use the Pay details for EFT and BPAY payment methods. 
   • Awaiting Clearance - This will display once the payment has been made but needs to be cleared through Beam.
   • Paid via Beam - Payment has been accepted via Beam. 
     
     

  Tip: You'll also receive a notification about your Beam for processing, and once accepted by Beam will display as Paid.

Superannuation reporting

You can export your super information at any time from the platform. Once processed, batch details can be exported as CSV for reporting.

To export information from a super batch:

1. In the quick menu navigate to Pay > Superannuation.  
2. Navigate to the Processed tab and on the batch you would like to export select Actions > CSV Export. 
   
   
3. Once exported, you will see the following information in the CSV file:
   
   • ID - Employees foundU ID
   • Superfund - Employees chosen Superfund
   • Member ID - Employees Superfund member ID
   • Employee
   • Period Start
   • Period End
   • Super Guarantee - Super guarantee amount
   • Salary Sacrifice - Salary sacrifice amount
   • Employee Personal Super Contribution - Employee personal super contribution amount
   • Employer Additional Super Contribution - Employer additional super contribution amount
   • Total - Total amount of super paid
   • Payment Type - Payment type of the batch e.g. direct debit

FAQs

When the super percentage guarantee goes up, will I need to update this in my platform for is to take effect?

 If the super guarantee percentage goes up on July 1st, we at foundU will automatically update this across all platforms! This means nothing to action for you!
You can always review the current super guarantee for your platform by accessing Payroll > Superannuation.

What happens to my employee's super payment amount if I make an ETP payment or if after processing payroll I make an edit or an adjustment?

Once you make an edit or adjustment (ETP), in Payroll > Superannuation, you can see the difference by selecting the batch and proceeding to the review screen. Here, you can view the breakdown of the employee's super amounts, with an "ADJ" displayed in yellow next to it to indicate the adjustment. You can then process your superannuation payment as usual.

I've made my super payment, however, I realised that I had an error on a payslip and made an adjustment, and now I have a negative super amount, what do I do?

When you make an adjustment (or edit or process an ETP payment), a new superannuation batch is automatically created in Payroll > Superannuation. This means that you can easily merge this new batch with another batch (in this case when you process next week's pay for example). The negative amount will then come out of the employee's total super amount owing.

Please note you can only merge into another batch if:

• The entity details match
• The employee exists
• And the batch that you're merging into cannot already have a negative batch total amount.

It's my employee's last payment payslip as they're no longer working with us. I had an error on a payslip and did an adjustment, and now I have a negative super amount, what do I do?

In this scenario, as you won't have a future super total for the employee to take the negative amount you'll need to either collect the super payment from the super fund (or write off the amount) depending on your business requirements. In foundU, you can clear the negative amount, which will mark the payment as processed requiring no further action.

I noticed when setting my super that I can only pay monthly or quarterly, but what if I'd like to process a super payment more frequently?

When you process your employee's pay (or make an edit, adjust or ETP payment) a new superannuation batch is automatically created. If you processed your superannuation payment early, that's okay as foundU can handle this, you'll have 2 line items on your bank statement and 2 batches for a month as an example. 

I paid my employees super early (at a fortnight) but then I missed the next fortnight and now I have two fortnights worth of data in one batch, what do I do?

As you missed a payment cycle, there are now two batches in your next super payment since your batch data is created automatically.

You can either:

• Process the 2 batches as is or
• You can manually separate the information by choosing which staff members' payments to process and then repeat the same.