New reforms seek to facilitate employee choice of superannuation fund

If the employee does not make a choice of superannuation fund for superannuation guarantee (SG) contributions, the employer must make a request to the Australian Tax Office (ATO) to determine if the employee has a stapled fund. If the employee has a stapled fund, the employer will generally be required to pay SG contributions to the stapled fund. Only if there is no chosen fund or stapled fund may the employer contribute to a new default fund for the employee.

Generally, an employer must give a standard choice form to an employee within 28 days of commencement to capture superannuation fund details.

The Federal Government will amend the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992 (Cth) to provide greater certainty that an employer may request details of an employee’s stapled superannuation fund from the ATO before, at or after the employee is given a standard choice form.

This will allow employers to provide stapled fund details to the employee during onboarding to inform their choice of fund.

Legislation taking effect on 1 July 2026 requires payment of SG contributions within 7 business days of the day when employees are paid salary or wages.

An extended timeframe of 20 business days for payment of SG contributions will apply for a new employee. This is to account for the additional time employers may need to onboard new employees and obtain accurate details about the superannuation fund to which SG contributions will be made.

The legislation will also amend the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) to impose a ban on advertising certain superannuation products to employees during the employee onboarding process, with certain exceptions.

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