On 1st July 2023, the super guarantee (SG) rate will increase from 10.5% to 11% and will progressively increase to 12% by July 2025, as follows:

The SG rate you are required to apply depends on when you pay the employee as opposed to when they earn the income. It means the increased SG rate will need to be applied to any pay runs with a date paid on or after 1st July, even if some or all of the relevant pay periods are before 1st July. 

The article will explain what settings we offer to manage this transition. It will also specify what exceptions apply that prevent the SG rate from increasing automatically, thereby requiring manual user intervention. When referring to automatically managed by the platform, this means that:

• For any pay run created with a date paid on or after 1st July, the platform will automatically calculate SG at the applicable minimum percentage rate for that financial year period; and
• On 1st July, we will update any reference to the prior SG rate within the platform to reflect the new SG rate for the current financial year.

The configuration of the following settings will determine whether the platform will automatically manage SG rate increases:

• Business Details page Automatically Update Super Rates tick box.
• Pay category setting Super Rate field
• Pay rate template setting Override tick box in the Super Rate column
• Employee pay rates page Override tick box in the Super Rate column

If any of the scenarios detailed below apply to a business and/or employee record and you want the platform to automatically update the SG rate, you must correct your settings, the earlier of:

• 5:00pm AEDT on 30th June of the current financial year, or
• The day of the first pay run that you will process with a date paid in the new financial year, and you must make changes before creating the pay run.

Setting 1: Automatically update super rates tick box

You will find the Automatically Update Super Rates tick box on the Payroll Settings Details page. We will select this tick box by default and we will only untick it for a business due to a manual override. If you select this tick box, the platform will start the process of reviewing what SG rates it can update. If you do not select this tick box, the platform will not apply any SG updates to your payroll platform.

Setting 2: Pay category Super Rate field

If you selected the tick box listed above, the next setting the platform will review, to determine whether SG rate updates will automatically apply, is the super configuration of each pay category. Each pay category, located on Payroll Settings Pay Categories page, has a Super Rate field. If the value contained in that field is 0% or anything different to the applicable SG rate for the current financial year, the platform will not update the super rate for that pay category.

An example of anything different for transitioning from the 22/23 financial year to 23/24 financial would be if a pay category has a super rate value of 10%. As this rate is not the applicable minimum SG rate for the 22/23 financial, the platform will not update the super rate to the applicable minimum SG rate for the 23/24 financial. Rather, the super rate will remain at 10%.

Another example would be, when transitioning from the 22/23 financial year to 23/24 financial, if a pay category has a super rate value of 12%. As this rate is not the applicable minimum SG rate for the financial, the platform will not change the super rate for the 23/24 financial and instead the super rate will remain at 12%.

On the other hand, if the value contained in the Super Rate field is identical to the applicable SG rate for the current financial year, the platform will update the super rate for that pay category. For example, when transitioning from the 22/23 financial year to 23/24 financial year, any pay category that has a super rate of 10.5% will be automatically updated to 11% for the 23/24 financial.

You can do a bulk audit of the super rate configuration of all business pay categories by exporting the pay category settings. To do this, click on Export button on the Pay Categories page and then click the Download button. Review the DefaultSuperRate column in the export. To update any pay category setting, simply click on the relevant pay category from the Pay Categories page, select the override the super rate value, and then click the Save button. 

Setting 3: Super rate Override tick box in business pay rate template

If you selected the setting one section tick box, the next setting to review will be ‌the Super Rate fields of any pay rate templates that you created, as opposed to pay rate templates linked to pre-packaged Awards. If any one of the following applies:

• You have overridden the Super Rate fields, i.e. ‌you have ticked the Override tick box, or
• The value in the Super Rate field is 0%, or
• The value in the Super Rate fields is ‌different to the applicable SG rate for the current financial year.

The platform will not update the super rate associated to the pay category in the pay rate template. You can find an example of what would be different to the applicable SG rate for the current financial year in the above section.

On the other hand, if the value contained in the Super Rate fields is identical to the applicable SG rate for the current financial year, the platform will update the super rate associated to the pay category in the pay rate template.

To find out whether your business has its own pay rate templates, navigate to Payroll Settings Pay Rate Templates page and select the Your Pay Rate Templates option. It will show you the pay rate templates your business has created. Additionally, it will show you if any of your employees are linked to the templates If there are no pay rate templates listed, you can proceed with reviewing the next setting.

You can do a bulk audit of the super rate configuration of all business pay rate templates by exporting the pay rate template data. To do this, go to Payroll Settings Pay Rate Templates page and click the Export button and then click the Download button, making sure that the Pay rate templates selection = Your pay rate templates. Next, navigate to each xx_SuperRate columns in the export and update the required values, or override the existing value, and then re-import the file. 

Setting 4: Super rate Override tick box in Employee Pay Rates page

If you selected the setting one section tick box, the final setting that will be reviewed to determine whether automatic updates will apply is the Super Rate fields associated to all pay categories listed on the employee's Pay Rates page. It is only relevant to employees that you did not attach to a pay rate template. Similar to the rules in setting 3, if any, one of the following applies:

• You have overridden the Super Rate field, i.e. you have selected the Override tick box, or
• The value in the Super Rate field is 0%, or
• The value in the Super Rate fields is ‌different to the applicable SG rate for the current financial year.

The platform will not update the super rate associated to the pay category in the employee's Pay Rates page. We cover an example of what would be different to the applicable SG rate for the current financial year in setting 2.