Have You Met Your Corporate Superannuation Obligations?
You probably already know that every employer in Australia is obligated (under the Superannuation Guarantee Act) to select a fund manager with a default superannuation offering to their employees. However, did you also know that, as of 1st July last year, this default fund must meet minimum levels of life insurance.
This insurance must have been made available to all employees by no later than July 1st 2008.
According to David Heycock, a specialist corporate superannuation consultant with AdroitIG-RetireInvest, many employers have either: failed to nominate a default fund; not provided appropriate insurance cover in their default option; or, if they have, have not adequately informed their employees the option is there (notice of significant change). This could have serious ramifications if an employee dies without insurance cover and given that the average level of death cover within super is $189,000 damages claims could be substantial.
On top of this, we are now faced with a further raft of changes to employer superannuation obligations under the Labour Government’s “Modernisation” initiatives. These changes may also render certain employers non-compliant says David. Many will not understand how they are affected and may miss the changes.
If any employer is not certain they have properly met all of their superannuation guarantee legislation requirements they should seek professional help as a matter of priority, says David. Otherwise, they could be facing substantial fines or, even worse, potential litigation that could involve hundreds of thousands of dollars in liabilities.
Information supplied by: RetireInvest Epping Vic
Phone: 03 9436 7877