The Minister for Financial Services, Superannuation and Corporate Law, Chris Bowen MP, today announced the release for public exposure of draft legislative amendments to support the Government's 2008-09 Budget measure to provide a free superannuation clearing house service to small businesses. The measure is designed to reduce the cost to small businesses of complying with their superannuation obligations.
The Government announced in November that the free superannuation clearing house service for small business will be delivered through Medicare Australia. The service will be available to eligible small businesses (those with less than 20 employees) from July 2010.
The draft legislation will amend the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992, the Retirement Savings Accounts Act 1997 and the Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Act 1993 to:
- allow employers to meet their obligation to make compulsory superannuation contributions for the benefit of their employees by paying to the approved clearing house;
- extend the conditions under which superannuation contributions by an employer for the benefit of an employee are made in compliance with the choice of fund requirements to cover circumstances where contributions are made through the approved clearing house; and
- allow an employer to satisfy its obligation in relation to the prompt remittance of superannuation amounts deducted from an employee's salary or wages by making payments to the approved clearing house.
The draft legislation and related explanatory material can be found on the Treasury website at http://www.treasury.gov.au.
Comments on the draft legislation are sought by the close of business Wednesday, 23 December 2009.
26 November 2009