Super - Yep one of those areas where red tape is strangling small business. But does doing super have to be that hard? The answer is a surprising no! I will show you why.

Businesses with less than 20 employees can use the superannuation clearing house run by Medicare http://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au/super/. I set this up for one of my clients and the process is actually really quite simple. You will need standard superannuation forms for every employee including the super fund and member number.

It is important to note that if you choose a super fund as the default fund you should be able to set up a clearing process with them free of charge if you have more than 20 employees.

Your accountant/bookkeeper should be able easily to run reports as to how much is owed by each employee for any given period (I know paycycle does this and we love it!).

The other benefit is that you have up until the closing date to put the funds in whereas with other clearing houses it's at the time of processing the funds rather than at the time of payment. This can be days difference and not something you want to chance with the Super Guarantee Charges that then become applicable. (In essence Superannuation is no longer deductible for tax purposes and a general interest charge is imposed).

Therefore my suggestion is give it a crack! I bet you will love it, I know we do. If you need any more explanation on this feel free to contact us, we would love to help.