Hiring employees for the festive season

As the festive season approaches, employers that hire new employees to help with their business should remember the following when it comes to their employer tax and super obligations:

• Employers should make sure they are withholding the right amount of tax from payments they make to their employees and other payees, especially as this will help their employees meet their end-of-year tax liabilities;

• Employers must pay super guarantee (currently at 11.5%) to all eligible employee's super funds in full and on time to avoid paying the super guarantee charge; and

• If employers are still not reporting through single touch payroll ('STP') and they do not have an approved exemption, deferral or concession in place, they should start reporting now. If they have just started a business or recently employed staff, they will need to report through STP from their first payday.