Employer’s guide to reportable superannuation contributions

Every Australian business has an obligation to report superannuation contributions to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). Yet, many struggle to get it right, resulting in costly penalties and wasted time.

In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about reportable superannuation contributions, including common mistakes and how to avoid them, plus how you can use your payroll software to make reportable employer superannuation contributions (RESC) calculations and reporting a breeze.

What are reportable employer superannuation contributions (RESC)?

Reportable employer superannuation contributions are contributions employers pay into employees’ superannuation funds that must be reported to the ATO.

The two main types of RESC are salary sacrifice and additional employer contributions, both of which must be discussed and documented before paying your employees and are often negotiated as part of their salary package.

Compulsory superannuation guarantee (SG) contributions (up to the SG rate) are not RESC. Note that RESC amounts are reported on your employee’s income statement and used in various income tests.

What is a reportable super amount?

The reportable super amount is the combined total of reportable employer superannuation contributions and personal deductible contributions. Keep in mind that this is simply a number used on income statements for reporting purposes — not an extra tax deducted from your employees’ wages.

What are the two types of reportable super contributions?

The two types of reportable super contributions:

1. Reportable personal deductible contributions
   Personal deductible contributions are employee superannuation contributions from after-tax income. Once they claim a tax deduction (on their tax return), they become concessional contributions (‘before-tax’ contributions).
   
   
2. Reportable employer superannuation contributions (RESC) - the amounts an employer pay beyond the super guarantee (SG).
   Employers report RESC with each pay run via Single Touch Payroll (STP). As an employer, you need to make sure your payroll software correctly identifies and separates RESC from standard SG contributions.

Examples of reportable and non-reportable contributions

Not all superannuation contributions are reportable. It is important to check with the ATO for guidance on what is reportable and non-reportable. However, here’s a quick overview of the main reportable and non-reportable superannuation:

Reportable contributions	Non-reportable contributions
Salary sacrifice contributions Any amounts you deduct from an employee’s pre-tax income and pay directly into their superannuation fund.	Compulsory SG contributions Mandatory quarterly payments you make into an employee’s super fund that are already accounted for in an employee’s income tax return.
Additional employer contributions (individual agreements) Any payments you make into an employee’s super fund beyond the SG requirements, typically under a special agreement.	Additional employer contributions (collective agreements) Any amounts paid on top of SG linked to formal agreements typically negotiated with unions that stipulate contributions above the minimum.
	Personal deductible contributions Voluntary contributions employees can make from their after-tax income and are not reportable for you as their employer.

Aside from the superannuation guarantee, most pre-tax contributions are reportable. But to ensure you classify contributions correctly, maintaining clear documentation is essential, including employee choice forms, salary sacrifice agreements and fund details.

How reportable super affects employees

Reportable super is used for various income tests, which affects your employees’ eligibility for certain government benefits and obligations, including the Medicare Levy Surcharge, HELP/HECS repayments, Family Tax Benefit and Child Care Subsidy.

Although reportable super contributions don’t increase an employee’s taxable income, they are added back to their income for government tests. For example, if David earns $65,000 and sacrifices $10,000 into super, his taxable income would be $55,000 (below the HELP threshold) but his repayment income would be $65,000 (above the threshold).

Correctly reporting RESC is vital because employees and Services Australia rely on these figures when assessing entitlements and obligations. To ensure accuracy, many Australian employers therefore choose a professional payroll solution.

Superannuation rules for employers

If you pay wages in Australia, you must pay superannuation guarantee (SG) of at least the super guarantee rate (currently 12%) of eligible employees’ ordinary time earnings (OTE).

Superannuation contributions (both SG and RESC) must be paid at least quarterly using the electronic SuperStream system. You must also give employees a choice of fund or pay into a default or ‘stapled fund’ if they don’t make a choice.

Super payment dates

Quarter	Payment due date
1	28 October
2	28 January
3	28 April
4	28 July

Please refer to the ATO for up-to-date information and note that, from 1 July 2026, employers will be required to pay SG contributions every payday instead of quarterly. Failing to pay on time or the correct amount means you’ll have to pay the super guarantee charge (SGC). Don’t forget that you must also report any additional RESC above the SG rate.

Is superannuation paid on bonuses?

Employers must pay super on bonuses and commissions if they’re part of an employee’s OTE. This includes performance, Christmas and sign-on bonuses.

However, super isn’t paid on bonuses for work performed entirely outside ordinary hours (non-OTE). For example, if you pay an employee a specific overtime-only bonus for the overtime they’ve worked, you don’t need to pay any super.

There’s also a limit on how much SG you need to pay per employee per quarter, known as the maximum super contribution base (MSCB). If an employee’s bonus pushes their income past this limit, you won’t have to pay super on the amount over the limit.

You can avoid the hassle of working out super on bonuses by automating your payroll with software so that bonuses automatically attract SG. However, keep in mind that if you pay an employee their bonus as extra super instead of cash, it will fall under RESC and will need to be reported.

How are reportable employer super contributions taxed?

RESC aren’t taxed as normal income. Instead, they’re taxed at 15% within the super fund. For high earners, there’s an additional 15% tax (total 30%) if the employee’s income plus RESC is over $250,000.

RESC are paid before tax, often as part of a salary sacrifice arrangement to lower an employee’s taxable income. The money is taken out of the employee’s pay before income tax is calculated and reported as RESC on their payment summary.

How to calculate reportable superannuation

You can calculate reportable superannuation contributions by adding up any pre-tax salary sacrifice amounts and any additional employer contributions above the mandatory SG rate (currently 12%).

The key here is additional contributions, meaning anything on top of what is legally required. This means that it’s vital your payroll records separate compulsory SG contributions (which are non-reportable) from RESC (which are reportable).

1. Identify salary sacrifice: if an employee chooses to sacrifice a certain amount of their pre-tax income into their superannuation, this is reportable.
2. Calculate additional employer contribution: if you contribute 13% of the employee’s OTE and the SG rate is 12%, this extra 1% is considered your additional employer contribution and needs to be reported.
3. Add them together: when you have dollar amounts for both salary sacrifice and your additional employer contribution, simply add them together.

Worked example of RESC calculation

Let’s say you have an employee who earns $90,000 a year and chooses to sacrifice $10,000 of their salary into their super. You also agree to contribute 13% of their OTE. This gives us the following key information we can use to calculate RESC:

• Employee OTE: $90,000
• SG rate: 12%
• Employee salary sacrifice: $10,000
• Employer contribution: 13%

First, identify any salary sacrifice — which is $10,000 in this scenario. Next, work out your additional employer contribution by looking at how much more you’re paying into the employee’s super fund than legally required by the SG rate.

In this case, you’re contributing an extra 1% (13%-12%). In dollar terms, this 1% works out to $900 (1% of the employee’s $90,000 OTE). So, your additional employer contribution is $900.

Now, simply add the salary sacrifice amount to this additional employer contribution amount: $10,000 + $900 = $10,900. And that’s it. Your total reportable superannuation contribution is $10,900.

How to report superannuation to the ATO

Employers typically report RESC contributions to the ATO via Single Touch Payroll (STP) each pay cycle. Before reporting super, don’t forget to compare payroll reports with super contributions reports to make sure the amounts are correct.

Employers using STP must also make a finalisation declaration. When finalising, make sure to check that all year-to-date (YTD) amounts are correct and that you’ve lodged a finalisation declaration for every employee you’ve paid over the financial year.

Don’t forget that, aside from reporting super to the ATO, you also need to pay both RESC and SG contributions quarterly (by their respective due dates) to avoid penalties.

How to set up your business to pay super:

1. Select your default fund
2. Give employees a choice of super fund
3. Request stapled super fund details for employees that don’t make a choice
4. Send employees’ Tax File Numbers (TFNs) to their funds
5. Set up your systems to pay super contributions electronically to the right fund

How often is super reported to the ATO?

Employers are obliged to report RESC amounts quarterly when processing payroll using STP and lodge their finalisation declaration at year-end (due 14 July).

RESC amounts are captured through payroll and STP over the year and then finalised in the employee’s income statement at financial year end. It’s important to note that, if RESC wasn’t reported correctly throughout the year, you can’t manually adjust it during finalisation. Instead, you have to correct any errors in an updated pay run before 30 June.

Your end-of-year finalisation is key to employees’ tax returns, making it vital that super contributions are recorded correctly. Your payroll system should classify contributions accurately and in real time to ensure RESC is properly tagged from the outset.

Common RESC mistakes and how to avoid them

Misclassifying contributions

Mistake: reporting the compulsory SG payment as a RESC amount or treating salary sacrifice as non-reportable.

How to avoid: use separate payroll categories and check your system’s category labels.

Overlooking salary sacrifice

Mistake: forgetting to report salary sacrifice as RESC or assuming it’s automatically captured.

How to avoid: make sure that any salary sacrifice agreements are clearly documented and entered into payroll.

Not updating payroll settings

Mistake: outdated payroll settings not reflecting current superannuation arrangements.

How to avoid: update payroll immediately when contributions change and recheck settings every time your payroll software updates.

Incorrect reporting/mapping

Mistake: mapping super categories to the wrong STP fields.

How to avoid: check with your payroll system provider to confirm STP mapping is correct.

Mismatched data

Mistake: inconsistent employee information (TFN, name, date of birth) across payroll, STP and super fund.

How to avoid: centralise employee data to ensure consistency across platforms.

Weak record-keeping

Mistake: no written salary-sacrifice arrangements, supporting documents or audit trail

How to avoid: keep signed salary-sacrifice agreements, track any contribution changes and store any receipts and fund confirmations

These are some of the most common payroll mistakes that can land businesses in hot water with the ATO. Fortunately, better processes and tools, like payroll software, can reduce these errors and ensure compliant payroll.

Simplify super reporting with smarter payroll software

Reporting super isn’t a set-and-forget process and maintaining compliance can be complex. However, you can simplify your super reporting with payroll software that minimises both admin and errors. Automated calculations, STP-compliant reporting and SuperStream-compliant payments help improve accuracy, efficiency and compliance, giving your teams back more time and helping your company avoid any penalties.

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