XBert Type: Standard
Accounting Software: Xero
Country Restriction: Australia only
Risk Type: Payroll Risk
Business Function: Payroll
Overview
The "Check Employee Super Contribution" XBert helps you spot employees whose superannuation for the past financial year does not add up. Once the year closes, it reviews each employee's pay history and flags anyone whose super guarantee contributions could not be reconciled against what their ordinary time earnings suggest should have been paid. Catching this early helps you avoid Super Guarantee Charge penalties from the ATO.
What it does
For each employee, this XBert looks across all of their payslips for the financial year that has just ended and:
Works out the super that should have been paid based on each employee's ordinary time earnings (OTE)
Compares that to the super guarantee contributions actually recorded against their pay
Identifies any employee whose super for the year could not be reconciled to the expected amount
It takes common situations into account, such as super-exempt payments, leave earnings and JobKeeper top-ups, so that genuine exemptions are not mistaken for a shortfall.
How it works
This is an annual check. It runs once a year, in the first nine days of July, just after the Australian financial year has closed. At that point it reviews the whole year's pay records for each employee and raises one XBert per employee whose yearly super could not be reconciled.
When working out the expected super, it considers:
All of the employee's payslips for the financial year
Earnings classified as ordinary time earnings (the pay that super is normally calculated on)
The applicable super guarantee rate for the year (for example, 11.5%)
It deliberately ignores pay components that are not subject to super, such as certain leave payments and JobKeeper top-ups, so they do not appear as a false shortfall. Where an employee's super for the year reconciles cleanly, no XBert is raised. Because the check needs a full financial year of Xero payroll data, it does not run for businesses whose payroll is managed through Employment Hero (KeyPay), where the Xero payroll records are not complete.
Example/Use Case
Priya runs payroll at Riverside Cafe in Brisbane. During the year, casual employee Daniel was paid across several short shifts. In one fortnight he earned $350, but no super was added; the next fortnight he earned $260, with the correct super. When the financial year closes, this XBert flags Daniel because the super recorded for the year does not match what his ordinary time earnings should have attracted. Priya reviews his pay history, processes the missing super for the affected period, and pays it to Daniel's fund before the next due date, avoiding an ATO penalty.
Accounting software
Xero only.
Which countries it supports
Australia only.
Processes
This XBert belongs to the Payroll business area.
To resolve it:
Open the employee named in the XBert and review their pay history for the financial year
Compare the super guarantee recorded against what their ordinary time earnings should attract, using the correct super rate for the year
If super was underpaid or missed, process the correcting super contribution and pay it to the employee's fund as soon as possible to limit any Super Guarantee Charge
If the super was actually correct (for example, the difference is due to a genuine exemption), no change is needed
Once you have checked the employee and made any corrections, mark the XBert as resolved