Bonus payment into Superannuation fund

 Author: PayrollDeanne(Taxicorn)Taxicorn

25 June 2024

Hiya @nomesey 👋

There are a number of factors you need to understand about the salary sacrifice of a bonus to superannuation:

1. As per the ATO guidance, you must enter into the salary sacrifice agreement PRIOR to the work being performed. For a "prior FY bonus", that means the salary sacrifice agreement to sacrifice the bonus (or portion of it) to superannuation had to have been entered into prior to the commencement of that prior FY. If there was no such agreement at that time, you cannot sacrifice it after the work has already been performed.
2. Caps - I assume you are referring to the quarterly maximum contribution base? They aren't "caps" as that is the term used to refer to amounts that individuals manage for themselves, not employers. Yes, if you ONLY pay the legislated minimum SG obligation as defined in the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992 and you don't have additional SG obligations from industrial instruments such as Awards, Agreements, contracts or policies, then you pay SG on the legislated OTE each pay until the quarterly cap has been reached. OTE amounts above the MCB are not OTE and you are not required to contribute SG on those excess amounts. Of course, this only applies to payments that are legislated OTE and excludes any amounts you may contribute from the industrial instruments. That is, MCB doesn't apply to the industrial SG amounts. Many employers pay more generous SG than is legislated.
3. SG Online course - the ATO has an excellent free Super guarantee employer obligations online course that covers all things super, well worth doing.

Deanne