Superannuation

The Superannuation page manages employee retirement contributions, tracks fund details, and provides a history of all super payments made through payroll.

How super works in Rebased

Superannuation is calculated automatically each pay run based on the current Superannuation Guarantee (SG) rate. Super contributions appear on the Pay & Lodge page alongside wages, so you can review and confirm both payments in one place.

Super payment flow

1. Pay run is processed — super payment records are created for each employee
2. Pay & Lodge page — review fund-by-fund contribution summary
3. Mark super as paid — confirms payment has been arranged
4. SuperStream submission — electronic submission to clearing house (if configured)

Super is intentionally kept alongside wages in the pay run workflow to support Payday Super compliance.

Superannuation Guarantee (SG)

Current rate

What SG applies to

SG is calculated on pay that counts toward super (technically called Ordinary Time Earnings, or OTE). In everyday terms that includes:

• Regular wages and salaries
• Commissions
• Most allowances (unless they are a genuine expense reimbursement — see Allowances and super)

SG does not apply to:

• Overtime hours
• Expense reimbursements (e.g. cents-per-km at the ATO rate, laundry, overtime meals)
• Unused leave paid on termination (in most cases)

Contribution deadlines

Super must be received by the employee’s fund by the quarterly deadline:

Payday Super (from 1 July 2026)

Under new legislation, employers must pay super within 7 days of payday instead of quarterly. Rebased is designed for this from day one — the Pay & Lodge page shows wages and super together, with reminders if super hasn’t been paid within the 7-day window.

Allowances and super

Each allowance line — both in the pay run editor and in an employee’s Standard Pay — has a checkbox directly beneath it:

Include in super calculation — Leave ticked unless this line is a genuine expense reimbursement (e.g. cents-per-km at the ATO reasonable rate) that your award does not count toward super.

It is ticked by default. This short page explains why, and when to untick.

The STP code doesn’t decide

Whether an allowance counts toward super is set by Australian super law — the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992 and SGR 2009/2 — not by the STP code you pick. The STP code (CD, LD, MD, KN, QN, OD, and so on) is only a category label the ATO uses for reporting. Two allowances with the same STP code can be treated differently for super depending on what your award says about that allowance.

That is why Rebased gives you a per-line checkbox instead of hard-coding the behaviour to the STP code.

Why the default is “ticked”

The legal risk is one-sided:

So the safe default is include. Only untick when you are sure the line is a pure expense reimbursement your award does not count toward super.

When you usually untick (exclude from super)

These are the most common Australian cases where an allowance is compensating an expense rather than rewarding work done:

When you usually leave it ticked (include in super)

The default is right for most allowances. In particular:

• KN — Tasks — a top-up for performing a specific duty (e.g. first-aid officer).
• QN — Qualifications / certificates — a top-up for holding a required licence (e.g. forklift, RSA, electrical licence).
• OD — Other — unless the line is clearly a pure expense reimbursement, leave it ticked.
• Any allowance your award describes as “all-purpose” or “payable for all purposes” — this is a legal phrase that folds the allowance into the ordinary rate of pay. If the award says the allowance is all-purpose, it is super-bearing no matter what the STP code would suggest. Common examples:
  • Tool allowance and industry allowance under the Building and Construction General On-site Award 2020
  • Leading-hand allowance in some manufacturing awards
  • Licence allowances under electrical and plumbing awards

Important — if you’re unsure, leave it ticked. Overpaying super by a small amount is recoverable by the employee. Underpaying creates a legal liability for the business (the Super Guarantee Charge, above). If you are not certain, the right answer is to leave the box ticked and check your modern award — or ask a payroll adviser.

What the checkbox does and doesn’t change

Unticking the box only removes that line from the super calculation base for the pay run. It does not change:

• the STP code reported to the ATO for the allowance,
• the STP category / reporting type for the line,
• the gross pay shown on the payslip,
• PAYG tax withholding.

The allowance still appears on the payslip at its full amount, and is still reported to the ATO through STP under its correct code.

Where to set it

• Per pay run — on the allowance line in the pay run editor. See Payroll → Allowances in the pay run editor.
• Recurring, per employee — on the allowance line in the employee’s Standard Pay. Whatever you set there flows into every new pay run created for that employee; you can still override it on a single pay run without changing the template.

Superannuation tab

The Superannuation tab under Team serves as a dashboard and history view.

Overview

Shows a summary of your super obligations:

• Year-to-date contributions — total SG paid this financial year
• Pending payments — super from recent pay runs awaiting payment (clicking navigates to the relevant Pay & Lodge page)
• Fund summary — breakdown of contributions by super fund

Super Funds

A Funds we use view of every fund currently linked to one of your employees or created by your business:

• APRA-regulated funds (e.g. AustralianSuper, REST, Hostplus) appear automatically when an employee picks one from the fund search. You never have to enter ABN or USI by hand — they come from the shared catalogue.
• SMSFs (Self-Managed Super Funds) are added by the business via + Add SMSF and are only visible to your business.
• Each row shows the fund badge (APRA or SMSF), the USI, how many of your employees are using it, and the verification status.
• The Default toggle on each row picks the business-wide default fund used when an employee hasn’t nominated their own. SMSFs can’t be defaults — they’re member-specific by design.

If you need a fund that isn’t in the catalogue, contact support — we’ll add it to the shared catalogue so everyone benefits.

Employee Super

See which fund each employee is assigned to:

• Employee name and their nominated fund
• Member number for each employee
• Super contribution rate (defaults to SG rate)
• Ability to update fund assignments

Payment History

Historical record of all super payments:

• Date paid and amount
• Fund receiving the payment
• Payment reference numbers
• Linked to the originating pay run

Employee super funds

The super fund picker

Anywhere you assign a super fund — Add to Payroll, Team Member details, or the employee’s own My Details setup — you’ll see the same searchable picker:

• Start typing the fund name or ABN and the picker suggests matches from the APRA catalogue plus any SMSFs your business has added.
• Selecting a fund automatically fills in the ABN and USI — you don’t retype them.
• Each employee also records their Member Number (their personal account identifier with the fund) — that’s the one field you still enter manually.

This means fund details stay consistent across every employee, and we can use them for electronic super submissions without needing admin cleanup.

Default fund

Go to Superannuation → Super Funds and flip the Default toggle on the row of the fund you want to use when an employee hasn’t nominated one. Behind the scenes this sets a single default on your business payroll settings.

• APRA-regulated funds can be defaults.
• SMSFs can’t — they’re tied to a specific member, so they’d only make sense for a single employee, not as a business-wide fallback.
• Clearing the toggle on the current default leaves your business with no default; you’ll need to make sure every employee has their own nominated fund or pay runs will fail to approve.

Adding a Self-Managed Super Fund (SMSF)

If an employee uses an SMSF, click + Add SMSF on the Super Funds tab and fill in:

• Fund name, ABN (required), USI (optional but recommended for SuperStream),
• Electronic Service Address (ESA) for SuperStream messages,
• Bank details for direct credit.

The SMSF is scoped to your business — it won’t leak to other businesses using Rebased. You can then assign it to the relevant employee through the picker.

Stapled super funds

If an employee doesn’t nominate a fund and you don’t have a default set, you may need to request a stapled super fund from the ATO. This is the fund the employee is already linked to from previous employment. Once you know the stapled fund, pick it in the employee’s super details — it’ll route through the same picker.

SuperStream

SuperStream is the Australian standard for electronic super payments. All employer super contributions must be submitted electronically via SuperStream.

How it works

1. Super contributions are calculated during payroll processing
2. A SAFF (SuperStream Alternative File Format) file is generated
3. The file is submitted to a clearing house (currently via Ozedi)
4. The clearing house distributes payments to individual super funds

STP-related super reporting

Alongside paying super, Rebased can also carry super-related values into STP reporting where required. Depending on payroll setup and pay items, this can include:

• standard super liability/contribution reporting
• reportable employer super contributions (RESC) where tracked
• the per-allowance “include in super” flag used in newer STP reporting fields (see Allowances and super)

These are driven from payroll and pay-item data rather than from a separate standalone super lodgement screen.

SuperStream status

On the Pay & Lodge page, the Super card shows the current SuperStream status:

• Ready for Payment — SAFF file generated, ready to submit
• Submitted — sent to clearing house
• Processing — clearing house distributing to funds
• Completed — all funds have confirmed receipt

SG Charge

If super is not paid by the deadline, employers face the Superannuation Guarantee Charge (SGC):

• The unpaid super amount (calculated on total salary and wages, not just the portion that normally counts toward super)
• Interest charges (currently 10% per annum)
• An administration fee per employee per quarter
• Loss of tax deductibility for the super contributions

Avoiding the SG Charge

• Pay super by the quarterly deadlines (or within 7 days under Payday Super)
• Use the Payday Super reminders on the Pay & Lodge page
• Monitor the dashboard for any pending super payments
• Keep accurate records of all contributions

Best practices

Onboarding

• Collect super fund details during employee onboarding
• Provide a Standard Choice Form for fund nomination
• Set up fund details before the first pay run
• Verify member numbers with the super fund if unsure

Ongoing management

• Review the SG rate annually (check for legislative changes)
• Update fund details if employees change funds
• Monitor contribution deadlines
• Reconcile super payments quarterly

Record keeping

The ATO requires you to keep records of:

• Employee fund nomination forms
• Contribution calculations for each pay run
• Payment confirmations from clearing houses
• Any SG Charge statements lodged

Troubleshooting

Wrong SG calculation

• Check the SG rate in Settings matches current legislation
• Verify employee hours are classified correctly (ordinary vs overtime)
• Confirm the calculation base is ordinary time earnings
• Review the pay run details for the specific employee
• If the issue is in STP super reporting rather than the payment amount, also review the payroll/pay-item fields used for STP

Employee fund not found

• Use the fund picker’s search box — it searches by fund name, ABN, and USI at the same time.
• If the fund still doesn’t appear and it’s an APRA-regulated fund (not an SMSF), let support know and we’ll add it to the shared catalogue.
• For an SMSF, go to Superannuation → Super Funds → + Add SMSF and enter the fund’s ABN, USI, ESA and bank details yourself.

Super payment overdue

• Pay as soon as possible to minimise interest charges
• Lodge an SG Charge statement with the ATO if past the deadline
• Update your processes to prevent future late payments
• Consider setting up calendar reminders for quarterly deadlines

Contribution rejected by fund

• Verify the employee’s member number is correct
• Check the fund still accepts employer contributions
• Confirm the USI matches the fund
• Contact the fund’s employer services team

Related pages

• Payroll — super is calculated and paid through the Pay & Lodge step
• Team Members — employee fund details and member numbers
• Settings — default super fund and payment configuration