The Fair Work Ombudsman has provided reassurance for bookkeepers by confirming that it will not be taking any action on the issue of unpaid superannuation where it has been paid to the Small Business Superannuation Clearing House (SBSCH) due to ATO system glitches.
The transition of the SBSCH system to the ATO’s online services has been plagued with processing and crediting of payment issues in the last month, causing significant concern and disruption for the bookkeeping industry.
In an update, the FWO said it had been advised of the delays affecting the SBSCH and it would not be taking action against employers who had undertaken the right steps.
“The FWO will not be taking action against employers on the issue of unpaid super where they have paid it to the SBSCH,” the ATO noted.
“However, employers are urged to seek their own independent legal advice if they remain concerned about their obligations under workplace law or employment contracts.”
The ATO had earlier issued a statement confirming that “issues impacting the allocation of payments have been resolved and all payments are now with funds”, with the backlog of payments cleared and that it does not hold any payments earlier than 16 April.
Association of Accounting Technicians chief executive, Rochelle Park had also expressed concerns over the practicality of the SBSCH system, believing BAS agents and bookkeepers would struggle to lodge with the its current workflow and functionality.
“Unfortunately though, bookkeepers and business owners will still be under pressure to lodge payment batch information with the SBSCH as the system will only accept one payment instruction at a time, meaning data entry of subsequent lodgements has been held up,” said Ms Park.
“This means bookkeepers will now have to re-schedule their time to process these outstanding lodgements now that there is a cleared payment.
“This is not easy to manage when dealing with multiple clients and an already busy calendar due to the looming BAS lodgement deadlines.”
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