On 24 February 2020 Federal parliament finally passed the bill
(first introduced in September 2019) to provide an amnesty to
employers who have not met their superannuation obligations to
employees.1 The aim is to motivate employers to
self-disclose and rectify certain historical underpayments without
attracting the penalties and administration charge that would
otherwise be imposed by the ATO.
However, the amnesty will only be available for a further six
months, only applies to underpayments made in relation to a period
prior to 1 April 2018, and is subject to other provisos.
For those employers who are not 100% confident they have met all
of their superannuation obligations, we consider it would be
prudent to review payroll compliance so that, if there has been an
inadvertent shortfall, they can take advantage of the amnesty. In
our experience, many employers are confused by what is, and what is
not, included in 'ordinary time earnings' on which
superannuation is
