Super crackdown

THE Australian Tax Office has reported a big increase in compulsory Superannuation Guarantee payments following new measures to boost compliance.

The ATO is currently checking on 42,000 employers who have come to its attention either through notifications from employees or from its data-matching activities.

As at the end of March, 11,500 audits had been conducted, resulting in $124 million in SG liabilities identified and a further $7.4 million in penalties im-posed. Prosecutions mounted against those who do not comply with ATO requests for information were also up.

So far this year the ATO has referred 128 cases for legal action resulting in 31 successful prosecutions.

Failure to contribute the full 9 per cent of ordinary-time earnings was the most common mistake. Another common problem was the mistaken belief that SG was 9 per cent of an employee’s net pay rather than an amount equivalent to 9 per cent of their gross pay.