Contractors and Payday Super

Thank you Princess, but I have followed the guide and there appears to still be conflicts present when trying to submit.  As SuFish said, there is an employment basis conflict which seems to indicate that Other (Not Reported) is not being accepted by the ATO.  As also said, the only way for it to be accepted is to change the employment basis from Other to Labour Hire.  This change puts Contractors into the STP loop on an employment basis which is incorrect - this was also said by SuFish.  

I would like you to have another go at trying to submit Contractor Super using your Guide and setting Income Type as Labour Hire and Employment Basis Other (Not Reported).  I have just tried this again with this result.  Please look into this asap.  Time is running out for us.

i am having the same issue! makes me very nervous having rejected stp reports for contractor super. i have followed all the same promts as above and am getting the same error messages. Are you paying the super in the mean time still ? 

This problem still persists.  I am also having this issue and frankly surprised that there hasn't been a MYOB resolution yet.    Paying Contractors weekly directly to the Superannuation fund in addition to the weekly employee payments via Payroll is really not good enough.  When will this be resolved?  Tick tock people.

I agree 100%.  I cannot believe that MYOB is leaving us hanging on this one.  

At the moment I can now lodge mine via the desktop, but I have to pay via the browser.  I find that the browser writes over my contractor references so I use the desktop; but paying via the desktop gets rejected so I have to use the browser. I still get all the error messages from the ATO.  

I am currently a little worried about payment turn around.  I lodge and pay the super on Monday.  The money gets taken from my account also on Monday.  It doesn't appear to hit/be processed by the Superfund until Friday.  It's cutting it fine.  I am not sure where the delay is at this stage.

It is just not good enough!  I have asked MYOB if they are going to pay our fines to the ATO - no response.  They are aware of the issue which lies squarely in their contracted responsibilities.  We are all trying to push a square peg in a round hole.  I will not be held responsible for delays or processing errors out of my control.  These fines are potentially enormous.

I left some info off the top of this post. This is the whole post.

I have asked this question via myob support but have had no response as yet so throwing this out there to see if anyone has any suggestions while I wait for a response.

Background - I have been paying super to contractors using myob payroll for a few years with no issue. But from 1 July 2026, the ATO want us to report both QE (qualifying earnings) and the super liability and from 1 July 2027, they’ll reject STP reports that don’t have both. However reporting contractors in STP is still optional, so my question is - how do I use Accountright payroll but avoid reporting to the ATO?

I followed myob's instructions to set up contractors up for Payday Super but at the end of the process I still ended up with a Rejected STP report.

This is what I did.

1 - Create or Update the Contractor’s Employee Card

2 - Set the Personal Details>Employment Basis to Other (Not Reported). This means you won't be reporting the contractor's super payments to the ATO

3 - Leave the Personal Details>Employment Category set to Permanent.

4 - Click the Taxes tab. For the Tax File Number, enter 000 000 000. For the Income Type, choose Labour hire. This information is required to avoid AccountRight prompting you with a message about missing information every time you pay the contractor's super in a pay run.

5 - For the Process all employees paid dropdown, choose Bonus/Commission and dismiss the info box that appears about tax.

6 - For the pay dates, enter the same date you paid the contractor’s invoice

After doing this I recorded the pays and that is when it goes wrong. I still have to sign in and I get sent down the STP path which ends up with a STP REJECT. The error message is 

"STP error code CMN.ATO.PAYEVNTEMP.000272"

Can this just be ignored?

If not, how can we pay super on behalf of our contractors using MYOB Paysuper while avoiding STP reporting?

Hi SuFish,

Totally get why you’re checking how this will work with the new ATO rules. If contractor super keeps going through payroll, it'll still sit inside the STP. The alternative is to run them via invoices (contractor bills/expenses) and pay their super manually or direct to the super fund, instead of through Pay Super. The error CMN.ATO.PAYEVNTEMP.000272 is coming from how the employment basis is mapped for STP. For contractors that are being reported, you’ll want to change their Employment basis to Labour hire, which is the option that maps to the ATO’s non-employee code and lets their super report cleanly without that error.

Cheers,

Doreen

Thanks for jumping in Doreen.

So are you saying we can't continue to pay contractor's invoices through Accounts Payable and their Super through payroll?

Or are you saying you can continue to pay contractor's invoices through AP and Super through payroll but you have to use Labour Hire for their Employment Basis? If I do this the reporting continues through STP but there is no need to report QE.

Appreciate your thoughts.

Su

Hi SuFish,

You’ve got it! You can definitely keep paying your contractors’ invoices through Accounts Payable. Since contractors shouldn’t be reported via STP, set them up as an “employee” with an employment basis of “Other (Not Reported)”. This keeps them out of STP while still letting you pay their super through Pay Super.

From there, create a separate $0 pay run that only includes their super contribution, then pay and authorise the super via Pay Super. Here’s a link you can check out for more details on paying super for contractors. However, it’s always worth checking in with your accountant or the ATO so you’re sure everything’s set up just right for your contractor arrangements.

Cheers,

Princess

Hello Princess, Thanks for the reply. What I've found is when I use “Other (Not Reported)” that the STP report is then Rejected. Isn't that an issue?

If I use Labour Hire on both "Employment Basis' and 'Income Type' it goes through STP ok. But does that mean I still have to report QE after July 1?

Any other insights appreciated...Su

Hi JoJo10,

Thanks for checking in. At the moment, the best way to get a contractor’s super through is to follow the steps in this guide. When you record the pay, you might see a pop-up asking you to update the contractor’s details. If that appears, you can just click Record anyway and keep things moving. I know that’s not quite the smooth fix you were hoping for, but it has helped other users successfully process super payments for their contractors. 

If it still doesn’t work, you can reach out to our team through the online support options on our website. They can give you a hand while you’re setting up the contractor.

Cheers,

Princess